US pre-open: Stocks set for muted start ahead of manufacturing data

US futures pointed to a muted open on Wall Street following two days of Fed-inspired gains, but equities were still on course to post weekly gains.

At 1130 BST, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were flat, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq futures were off 0.1%.

Meanwhile, oil prices turned higher amid reports that Saudi Arabia was ready to cut production if Iran agrees to freeze output at current levels of 3.6m barrels of oil per day. West Texas Intermediate was up 0.4% to $46.48 a barrel and Brent crude was 1.2% higher at $48.22. The next big focus for oil markets will be the OPEC meeting in Algeria next week.

CMC Markets’ Jasper Lawler said: “Stocks in the US look set for a lower start, matching the weaker sentiment in Europe and Asia ahead of the release of September manufacturing data.”

Investors will be eyeing speeches from Fed speakers, with Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker due to give a talk about the central bank’s role. In addition, Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart and Cleveland’s Loretta Mester are due to speak on a panel, while Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan is expected to take part in a Q&A session at an energy industry forum in Texas.

In corporate news, Yahoo Inc lost ground in pre-market trade after it confirmed that hackers had stolen the personal data from 500m accounts.

Lawler said: “The belief is that Verizon will go ahead with its Yahoo acquisition despite the hack, but clearly the deal getting completed is now more in doubt. That could easily change if it is determined customers have lost more sensitive data such as credit card details, which at the moment Yahoo has said is not the case. There have been some over-reactions to data breaches so investors are showing some more restraint.”

Elsewhere, Facebook also declined on a report suggesting that big ad buyers are unhappy that it overestimated the average viewing time for video ads on its platform.

Marriott International was likely to be in focus after it completed its $13bn acquisition of Starwood Hotels & Resorts in a deal that will create the world’s largest hotel company.

On the data front, Markit’s manufacturing purchasing managers’ index is at 1445 BST.