US pre-open: Futures lower ahead of July PCE reading
By Iain Gilbert
Date: Friday 29 Aug 2025
(Sharecast News) - Wall Street futures were in the red ahead of the bell on Friday as market participants awaited the release of last month's PCE price index.
As of 1225 BST, Dow Jones futures were down 0.30%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures had the indices opening 0.27% and 0.41% softer, respectively.
The Dow closed 71.67 points lower on Thursday as investors weighed Nvidia's latest quarterly update and its implications for the broader artificial intelligence trade.
Friday's primary focus will undoubtedly be the July consumer price expenditures report at 1330 BST, with investors expecting to see the Federal Reserve's preferred gauge of inflation tick up 0.2% month-on-month or 2.6% year-on-year. Core PCE was seen 0.3% higher when measured against June.
Rostro's Joshua Mahony said: "All eyes now turn to today's release of the US core PCE inflation figure, with the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation gauge expected to rise about +0.2% month-on-month (2.9% YoY). We have seen relative stability over the course of this week around the pathway for US rates, although that may change if we see a significant uptick in price pressures. Coming ahead of a week that markets predict will bring a raft of worsening jobs metrics, a subdued core PCE figure today would provide the basis for a confident dovish stance from the Fed going forward."
Elsewhere on the macro front, preliminary readings of July's goods trade balance and wholesale inventories figures will be published at 1330 BST, as will monthly personal income and spending data, while August's Chicago PMI was slated for release at 1445 BST, and the University of Michigan's August consumer sentiment index will follow at 1500 BST.
No major corporate earnings were slated for release on Friday.
Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com
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