U.S. stock market index futures fell slightly on Friday morning as investors looked to close out a winning week for markets that saw better-than-expected economic growth and a pop in market-darling Tesla. S&P 500 futures shed 0.28%, while Nasdaq 100 futures were down 0.5%. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average traded flat. Earnings season continued, with Intel slumped more than 9% premarket following a dismal earnings report that missed on the top and bottom lines. Strong guidance boosted American Express despite a top-and bottom-line miss. Stocks rose during regular trading Thursday, cheering a better-than-expected fourth quarter gross domestic product report that stoked hopes that the U.S. economy can experience a soft landing as the Federal Reserve hikes rates to tame inflation. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained more than 205 points, or 0.61%, notching its fifth consecutive winning session, the first streak of that length since October. The S&P 500 rose 1.10% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite jumped 1.76%. All three indexes are positive for the week and month. The Dow and the S&P 500 have gained 1.7% and 2.2% this week, respectively. The Nasdaq is up 3.3% on the week and is set to notch its best monthly performance since July. The Nasdaq has gained the last four weeks. “This year’s stock market rally is impressive and shouldn’t be ignored,” Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment officer for the Independent Advisor Alliance said in a Thursday note. ”Unfortunately, the Fed is likely to start talking down the market again, as early as next week, so prepare for volatility again this year; we may be in the eye of the hurricane and not completely out of the woods yet.” The personal consumption expenditures price index released Friday, a preferred inflation measurement for the Federal Reserve, met analysts expectations. Consumer sentiment for January will also be released Friday alone with pending home sales for December. It’s some of the last data that will be released ahead of the Fed’s next interest-rate decision on Feb. 1. Investors are currently expecting a 0.25 percentage point interest rate hike from the central bank. Stocks in the Asia-Pacific traded higher on Friday as traders digested Tokyo’s January core consumer prices that rose 4.3%, also faster than estimates — nearing the highest for Japan’s capital since mid-1981. The Nikkei 225 was slightly above the flatline to end its session at 27,382.56 and the Topix gained 0.22% to close at 1,982.66. The yield on the 10-year Japanese government bond rose more than 3% to trade at 0.480%, inching close to the central bank’s upper ceiling of its yield curve tolerance range. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 traded 0.34% higher to 7,493.8. In South Korea, the Kospi rose 0.62% to 2,483.02 while the Kosdaq rose 0.31% to 741.25 as major company earnings were released in the region. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose 0.24%, and the Hang Seng Tech Index rose 0.62% — after a seeing a rally on the first trading session following the New Year holidays. Oil prices rose for a second session on Friday, buoyed by better than expected U.S. economic growth, strong middle distillate refining margins and hopes of a rapid recovery in Chinese demand. Brent futures gained $1.30, or 1.5%, to trade at $88.77 a barrel. U.S. crude was up $1.27, or 1.6%, at $82.28 and on track for its highest daily jump in percentage terms for two weeks. Gold edged lower on Friday as robust U.S. economic data was seen as fodder for the Federal Reserve to keep interest rates high for longer, but caution ahead of inflation data and the policy meeting next week put a floor under bullion prices. Spot gold was down 0.2% at $1,926.09 per ounce, as of 0944 GMT, but held a relatively tight range after retreating nearly 1% in the previous session following the U.S. data. U.S. gold futures eased 0.1% to $1,927.30.
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