Investing.com – Wall Street futures pointed to a flat to lower open on Friday, as the Dow looked set to take a pause at record highs, while investors kept an eye on bank earnings and a wave of data scheduled for release later in the day.
The blue-chip Dow futures dropped 3 points, or 0.01%, at 7:13AM ET (11:13GMT), the S&P 500 futures slipped 1 point, or 0.05%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures gave up 1 point, or 0.02%.
The “unofficial” start of the second quarter (Q2) earnings season began on an upbeat note on Friday as JP Morgan (NYSE:JPM) reported results that beat consensus estimates.
However, after initially trading up more than 1%, shares erased gains, trading down 0.25% by 7:14AM ET (11:14GMT) in pre-market trade on Friday.
Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) and Citigroup (NYSE:C) will also step up to the plate ahead of the open with their own earnings releases at approximately 8:00AM ET (12:00GMT).
In economic data, June inflation figures will be released at 8:30AM ET (12:30GMT) Friday. Market analysts expect consumer prices to ease up 0.1%, while core inflation is forecast to increase 0.2%.
On a yearly base, core CPI is projected to climb 1.7%. Core prices are viewed by the Federal Reserve as a better gauge of longer-term inflationary pressure because they exclude the volatile food and energy categories. The central bank usually tries to aim for 2% core inflation or less.
Rising inflation would be a catalyst to push the Fed toward raising interest rates.
Remarks from Federal Reserve (Fed) chair Janet Yellen in her testimony to Congress earlier this week suggested that the central bank still planned on tightening monetary policy only gradually over concerns about readings of subdued inflation.
Markets remain skeptical that the central bank will undertake a further hike this year, putting the odds at only around 41%, according to Investing.com’s Fed Rate Monitor Tool.
Market participants will also keep a close eye on consumer data on Friday as spending represents roughly 70% of the U.S. economy.
The Commerce Department will publish data on June retail sales alongside the inflation figures at 8:30AM ET (12:30GMT). The consensus forecast is that the report will show retail sales rose 0.1% last month. Core sales are forecast to inch up 0.2%.
Rising retail sales over time correlate with stronger economic growth, while weaker sales signal a declining economy
Then at 10:00AM ET (14:00GMT), the University of Michigan will release its preliminary reading of consumer sentiment for July.
Also on the economic docket, June industrial production will be released at 9:15AM ET (13:15GMT).
Meanwhile, oil continued its rally for a fifth straight day on Friday, heading for weekly gains of around 5%.
Supporting bullish sentiment in crude this week, U.S. crude inventories registered a larger-than-expected draw and investors cheered data pointing to an increase in demand for oil from China as imports increased 13.8% to 8.55m bpd during the first six months of the year, compared to the same period a year ago.
That outweighed the bearish news that OPEC compliance on the agreement to extend production cuts with non-OPEC members led by Russia by 1.8 million barrels per day through March 2018 hit 78%, its lowest level in six months.
U.S. crude futures gained 0.87% to $46.48 by 7:15AM ET (11:15GMT), while Brent oil traded up 0.95% to $48.88.
Market participants will keep an eye on increasing U.S. shale production when Baker Hughes releases its most recent weekly rig count data later on Friday.
The energy services company said last week that U.S. drillers had added seven oil rigs, marking a 24th week of increases out of the last 25.