Investing.com - Wall Street futures pointed to a flat open on Friday as concerns over Germany’s largest lender Deutsche Bank kept U.S. market participants cautious while they awaited key data including the Federal Reserve’s (Fed) favorite inflation indicator, the core personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index.
The blue-chip Dow futures slipped 6 points, or 0.03%, by 7:01AM ET (11:01GMT), the S&P 500 futures inched up less than a point, or 0.01%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures dropped 3 points, or 0.07%.
Following the path of its U.S. listed shares that hit an all-time low on Thursday, (DE:DBKGn) saw its shares further punished on Friday as a Bloomberg that a number of hedge funds that clear derivatives trades with Deutsche had withdrawn some excess cash and adjusted positions held at the lender added to concerns over the banks health and its possible contagion to other global banks.
The move early Wednesday took European shares of the German bank below €10 for the first time in nearly 30 years, though losses were pared after chief exec John Cryan wrote a memo stating that “market forces” were responsible for the share slide and there was no basis for concern over the bank’s health.
Stateside, futures pointed to further caution after the Deutsche Bank story caused a sell-off a day earlier as investors awaited a string of data.
In focus, the core PCE price index for August was expected to tick up to 1.7%, moving ever-closer to the Fed’s 2% inflation target. This measure of prices is key to shifts in the Fed’s monetary policy.
The data, out at 8:30AM (12:30GMT) will be accompanied by personal income and spending for the same month.
On a lesser scale, attention will also be paid to the Chicago PMI and the revised Michigan consumer sentiment, both for the month of September.
Additionally, Dallas Fed president Robert Kaplan will participate in a Q&A at 1:00PM ET (17:00GMT) with markets continuing to attempt to decipher the timing of the next U.S. rate hike.
Bets had currently shifted to February 2017, with odds for a December hike reduced to 48.8%, missing the 50% threshold, according to Investing.com's Fed Rate Monitor Tool.
On the company front, shares in Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) were expected to open higher after the wholesale club retailer's quarterly profit beat on lower Visa fees.
McCormick & Company Incorporated (NYSE:MKC) could also see upside in Friday's session after a 6% rise in sales helped profit beat estimates.
On the downside, CalAmp Corp (NASDAQ:CAMP) had tumbled almost 13% in Thursday's after-hours session after reporting a steep drop in its fiscal second quarter bottom line.
Meanwhile, oil prices slumped on Friday as investors took profits following a 7% gain in the last two sessions, amid doubts that OPEC's first planned output cut in eight years would make a substantial dent in the global crude glut.
Several analysts had expressed skepticism over the future deal and whether it would have a material impact. Even if the cartel strictly abided by the quotas eventually set, they expressed concern that production elsewhere would ramp up to take advantage of higher profit.
In that light, investors looked ahead to data from oil services provider Baker Hughes’ later in the session. Last week, the figures showed that the number of active rigs drilling in the U.S. had increased for the twelfth time the last 13 weeks.
U.S. crude futures fell 0.61% to $47.54 by 7:01AM ET (11:01GMT), while Brent oil lost 0.74% to $49.44.