Investing.com – Wall Street futures pointed to a slightly lower open on Friday as investors took a breather after fresh record highs for the Dow and S&P 500 as investors looked ahead to more bank earnings and a flood of data.
The blue-chip Dow futures gave up 17 points, or 0.09%, by 10:54AM GMT, or 6:54AM ET, the S&P 500 futures edged down 4 points, or 0.16%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures slipped 5 points, or 0.10%.
After JP Morgan’s better-than-expected earnings pushed bank stocks higher on Thursday, attention will turn to the numbers from Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) and Citigroup (NYSE:C) before the opening bell.
In other company news, Bayer (DE:BAYGN) upped its offer to acquire Monsanto (NYSE:MON) to $64 billion in an attempt to entice the U.S. seed company to accept.
On the economic front, investors will focus on a score of reports out stateside with particular attention paid to June inflation figures, retail sales for the same month and the preliminary read of consumer sentiment in July from the University of Michigan.
Also set to be released are the July NY Empire State manufacturing index, June industrial production and May business inventories.
Markets will digest the data to try and glean clues for its effect on the Federal Reserve’s (Fed) policy stance as various central bankers sent mixed signals.
While Philadelphia Fed president Patrick Harker said Thursday that the FOMC could raise short-term interest rates as much as twice this year, three other Fed officials signaled that they were in no rush to raise rates.
Markets had dismissed the possibility of policy tightening this year with odds at 100% that the Fed will keep rates on hold at the July 26-27 meeting and only a 37% chance of a hike in December.
Meanwhile, oil prices fell in early trade on Friday on concerns over the supply glut, though positive growth figures out from China helped to pare losses.
Investors continued to digest higher-than-expected U.S. stockpiles that were released throughout the week and reports of swelling supply levels among top OPEC producers such as Saudi Arabia and Iran.
U.S. output would be in focus later in the session with the weekly Baker Hughes’ data. According to oilfield services provider, the number of rigs drilling for oil in the U.S. increased by 10 last week to 351, marking the fifth increase in six weeks.
The renewed gain in U.S. drilling activity fueled speculation that domestic production could be on the verge of rebounding in the weeks ahead, underlining worries over a supply glut.
U.S. crude futures lost 0.44% to $45.48 by 10:56AM GMT, or 6:56AM ET, while Brent oil traded down 0.38% to $47.19.
Elsewhere, Asian shares traded mostly higher as the better-than-expected Chinese GDP caused a sigh of relief over the slowdown in the world’s second largest economy.
However, European stocks traded lower on Friday, halting the recent rally after a gunman at the wheel of a heavy truck plowed into a crowd celebrating France's Bastille Day in the southern city of Nice late on Thursday, killing at least 84 people and injuring scores in what the nation’s President Francois Hollande called a terrorist act.