US Futures Flat Ahead of Key PCE Inflation Data

US stock futures traded little changed on Thursday as investors awaited the latest PCE price index report, the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation measure, for further clues on how the Middle East conflict is affecting price pressures. Markets are also watching for fresh data on weekly jobless claims, new home sales, and personal income. On the corporate side, investors are preparing for earnings releases from Dell Technologies, Autodesk, Dollar Tree, MongoDB, and Gap, among others. In after-hours trading, Snowflake surged 37.5% after the cloud-data firm announced plans to spend $6 billion on Amazon Web Services over the next five years while also posting better-than-expected first-quarter earnings and revenue. During Wednesday’s regular session, the Dow gained 0.36%, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite edged up 0.02% and 0.07%, respectively.

US equities closed mixed on Wednesday as gains for traditional economic sectors clashed against a pullback for chip producers and AI hyperscalers. The S&P 500 gained 0.2% and the Dow jumped 220 points, both at their record highs. Iran said it has a draft for a peace agreement that would restore trade through the Persian Gulf within a month of being signed, momentarily stoking risk-on moves in before US authorities claimed the document was a complete fabrication. Meta and Amazon rebounded from early session losses and closed sharply higher. Also, Eli Lilly gained 2% and P&G surged nearly 4% to set the pace for defensive sectors. In turn, companies in the AI space trimmed gains from the week as markets assessed the sustainability of their rally, pressuring the Nasdaq 100 to a 0.2% loss. Nvidia fell 1$ and Qualcomm dropped 6%. On the other hand, Micron jumped 3.5% to extend the 19% surge from last session after being upgraded by UBS. In afterhours, Salesforce fell 2% after earnings.

The Dow Jones Index went up by 188 points or 0.37 percent on Wednesday to close at 50649 points. The rise was led by P&G (3.22%), Boeing (2.49%) and Amazon (2.47%). On the downside, the weakerst performers were JPMorgan (-2.46%), Travelers Companies (-1.58%) and Chevron (-1.34%).