US pre-open: Wall Street poised for flat open ahead of retail sales data

US stock futures pointed to a flat open on Friday, as investors awaited data on retail sales and consumer confidence.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is expected to open approximately up six points, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq are set to begin the final session of the week respectively one point higher and six points lower.

Fed speakers leave investors in the dark

US stocks ended in the red on Thursday, with weaker oil and metals prices taking their toll on the energy and resources sectors as investors digested comments from a series of Federal Reserve speakers.

Janet Yellen and regional Fed presidents William Dudley, Charles Evans and Jeffrey Lacker, did little to shed light over the US central bank’s intention, although odds over a rate hike next month remains short.

“Considering the depth and volume of Thursday’s comments the markets have had to absorb, it will take longer than a day for that sentiment to dissipate,” said IG’s market analyst Alastair McCaig.

“Until the next FOMC meeting the likes of today’s US retail sales figures and PPI data now look like hurdles that need to be cleared rather than potential reasons for change.”

Retail sales, consumer confidence in focus

On the economic data front, investors will closely monitor a reading on advance retail sales for October, released at 1330 GMT, which is expected to show sales rose 0.3% compared with a 0.1% gain in September.

“Investors await the October retail sales to either confirm or oppose a December lift-off in interest rates,” said CMC Markets’ analyst Jasper Lawler.

“If the quarterly results of retailers are anything to go by, US retail sales will have a lot of catching up to do at the start of the fourth quarter.”

The University of Michigan preliminary reading on consumer confidence for November is scheduled at 1500 GMT, with a report for business inventories for September out at the same time.

In company news, fashion accessories designer Fossil slumped 16.5% in pre-market trading after the company’s quarterly missed estimates.

Nordstrom could also suffer losses on Friday, after the fashion retailer posted results that fell short of Wall Street’s expectations late on Thursday.

PayPal slid 0.84% ahead of the bell, following a Wall Street Journal report on Thursday suggested that Apple was in talks with US banks to develop a rival payment service.

Elsewhere, Asian equity markets ended the week on a downbeat note, as investors in the region remained jittery over what looks a probable December rate hike by the Fed, while European stocks pulled back.

The dollar was broadly flat against the pound and the yen but gained 0.39% against the euro, while gold spot declined 0.13% to $1,083.75.

Oil prices staged a timid rebound after Thursday’s slump, with West Texas Intermediate gaining 0.33% to $41.89 a barrel, while Brent rose 1.25% to $44.62 a barrel.