Stock futures slipped on Friday after a down day for the S&P 500 as traders reacted to the latest inflation reading. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 581 points, or 1.2%. S&P 500 futures fell 0.9% while Nasdaq-100 futures lost 1%. January’s producer price index, which is a measure of wholesale inflation, came in hotter than expected at a 0.5% increase for the month. Economists polled by Dow Jones saw the headline reading coming in at 0.3%. Excluding food and energy prices, core PPI recorded a 0.8% gain, much more than the 0.3% rise economists anticipated. Nvidia extended its post-earnings slide Friday, falling 1% in premarket trading. In the prior trading day, the stock shed more than 5%, which came to a surprise to many investors, who remain bullish on the chipmaker given its blowout fourth-quarter results and upcoming product cycle. Market participants attributed the decline in shares to doubts around Nvidia’s deal with OpenAI, weak sentiment over the artificial intelligence trade and concerns about hyperscalers’ lofty AI capital expenditures. Notable software names also fell. Salesforce tumbled more than 3%, and Microsoft lost about 1%, weighing on Dow futures. Cybersecurity company Zscaler shed 9% after deferred revenue and billings in the fiscal second quarter missed expectations. CoreWeave fell 11% on disappointing guidance. Stocks in the financial sector and other areas of the market pulled back as well as fears that AI would pose a threat to the labor market and broader economy persisted. Those fears were exacerbated after Block announced Thursday that it’s laying off more than 4,000 employees, or nearly half of its workforce. “We are choosing to shift how we operate at a time when our business is accelerating and we see an opportunity to move faster with smaller, highly talented teams using AI to automate more work,” CFO Amrita Ahuja wrote in a letter to shareholders. Downbeat reactions to key tech earnings pressured the broader market on Thursday. The S&P 500 lost 0.5%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite declined 1.2%. The 30-stock Dow ended the session higher by 17 points, or less than 0.1%. Thursday’s session saw investors flock toward more cyclical areas of the market, with financials and industrials among the session’s top-performing sectors. Tensions around President Donald Trump’s tariff policies and U.S.-Iran relations remain in the back of investors’ minds. “Investors are pumping the brakes on positioning as the level of uncertainty is increasing,” said Sameer Samana, head of global equities and real assets at Wells Fargo Investment Institute. Samana remains confident that growth of the economy and companies’ earnings will lead the S&P 500 to overcome near-term issues and break higher from current levels. Friday marks the final trading day of February, a rocky month that saw tech stocks rattled to their core amid fears of AI disruption. To that end, the Nasdaq Composite is on pace for a 2.5% slide and its worst monthly performance since last March. The S&P 500 is on track for a 0.4% loss in February, while the Dow is on pace for a 1.2% advance. U.S. Treasury yields fell Friday as investors assessed a hot wholesale inflation reading, rising fears of artificial intelligence hurting the economy and a tumbling stock market. The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield fell more than 3 basis points to 3.981%, while the 30-year Treasury bond yield dropped more than 2 basis points to 4.644%. The 2-year Treasury note yield was lower by more than 4 basis points at 3.404%. Asia-Pacific markets traded mixed Friday, after U.S. stocks declined overnight as Nvidia shares tumbled despite a quarterly earnings beat. Japan’s Nikkei 225 added 0.16% to close at 58,8850.27, while the Topix rose 1.5% to 3,938.68. The benchmark Japanese index hit 59,000 for the first time on Thursday before paring gains slightly. South Korea’s Kospi declined 1.%, ending the day at 6,244.13, but the small-cap Kosdaq gained 0.39% to 1,192.78. Hong Kong Hang Seng index was up 1% as of its last hour of trade, while mainland China’s CSI 300 slid 0.34% to 4,710.65. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.25% to 9,198.6. Oil prices rose by about $1 on Friday as traders remained on alert for potential supply disruptions after the ​United States and Iran ​extended nuclear talks. Brent crude ​futures advanced by $1.13, or 1.6%, to $71.88 a barrel by 1030 GMT while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was up $1.10, or 1.7%, at $66.31. “Uncertainty prevails, fear is pushing prices higher today,” said Tamas ⁠Varga, ‌an oil analyst at brokerage PVM. “It is completely driven ⁠by the outcome of the Iranian nuclear talks and possible military action the U.S. might take against Iran.” For the week, Brent was set to finish with a gain of 0.2% while WTI was poised for ‌a 0.1% decline. Gold prices rose on Friday as uncertainty over U.S. tariff policies and U.S.-Iran tensions underpinned the metal’s safe-haven appeal and put it on track for a seventh straight monthly gain. Spot gold gained 0.9% to $5,232.21 an ounce. The metal has climbed 6.5% so far in February, bringing gains for the seven months to 58%. U.S. gold futures for April delivery were up 1.2% at $5,253.20. U.S. 10-year Treasury yields fell to a three-month low on the day, decreasing the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding gold. “There are two things (supporting gold). First is the tariff uncertainty in the market right now, and on the other hand, the Iran and the U.S. situation,” said ANZ analyst Soni Kumari. Spot silver rose 4.4% to $92.20 an ounce, on course for a 6.2% monthly gain.