Investing.com– U.S. stock index futures edged higher Friday, rebounding after the blue chip DJIA index saw sharp losses during the previous session over fears of sticky inflation and high interest rates.
At 06:25 ET (10:25 GMT), rose 68 points, or 0.2%, rose 15 points, or 0.3%, and gained 50 points, or 0.3%.
The main Wall Street indexes ended lower on Thursday, after signals from the Fed showed that policymakers were growing increasingly concerned over sticky inflation, which in turn was likely to delay any potential rate cuts this year.
The fell 0.7%, the fell 0.4%, while the was by far the worst performer, sinking 1.5%, its worst session in more than a year.
Although the markets are edging higher Friday, these indices, with the exception of the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite, are on track for weekly losses after the minutes of the Fed’s late-April meeting, coupled with hawkish comments from several individual Fed officials, showed the central bank saw even slower progress towards inflation reaching its 2% annual target.
This saw traders largely price out expectations of rate cuts this year. The showed traders pricing in a nearly equal probability — around 46% — that the Fed will either hold or cut rates in September.
All three indexes had hit record highs earlier this week, which also left them open to a heavy bout of profit-taking.
Economic data due Friday include April’s report and May’s reading of the University of Michigan’s .
Nvidia earnings keeps tech sector in focus
These losses occurred Thursday despite market darling NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:) surging to record highs on the back of a bumper first-quarter earnings report.
While gains in Nvidia had initially spilled over into broader technology stocks- on hopes that demand for artificial intelligence will help buoy the sector- this notion was largely offset by fears of high for longer U.S. interest rates, especially following hawkish signals from the Federal Reserve.
Still, gains in Nvidia- which is the third-largest company on Wall Street- helped reduce overall losses in benchmark stock indexes.
Intuit (NASDAQ:) shares traded sharply lower premarket on soft guidance for the current quarter, with investors fretting over a loss of free users at its all-important TurboTax tax-preparation service.
Tesla (NASDAQ:) will also be in the spotlight after data emerged showing the EV manufacturer has cut output of its best-selling Model Y electric car by a double-digit percentage number at its Shanghai plant since March.
Crude heading for weekly losses .
Crude prices slipped lower Friday, heading for hefty weekly losses on concerns over U.S. economic activity amid sticky inflation and high interest rates.
By 06:25 ET, the U.S. crude futures (WTI) traded 0.8% lower at $76.23 per barrel, while the Brent contract dropped 0.8% to $80.75 per barrel.
Both contracts were on track to post weekly losses of more than 3%, with at its weakest level in two months, while WTI was at a three-month low.
(Ambar Warrick contributed to this article.)