Stock futures fell on Friday, following a fresh record close for the S&P 500. Futures tied to the broad market index slipped 0.5%, while Nasdaq 100 futures shed 0.3%. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures dropped 283 points, or 0.7%. Adam Crisafulli of Vital Knowledge pointed to global pressures, including worries over the political situation in France and the Bank of Japan indicating it would slow its quantitative easing pace. “Monetary policy is easing on a net basis globally, but the process isn’t going to happen rapidly enough to offset rising earnings headwinds tied to an environment of cooling nominal growth,” Crisafulli wrote. Stocks are coming off a winning session that saw the S&P 500 notch its fourth straight record close. The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite also ended the session at a record. Wholesale inflation unexpectedly ticked down by 0.2% last month, while economists polled by Dow Jones expected the gauge to increase by 0.1%. That follows a consumer price index reading that was flat on a monthly basis in May. “I think the soft landing is still intact, but I think there’s starting to be and could be jitters about [if] the Fed is staying restrictive for too long,” BD8 Capital Partners CEO Barbara Doran told CNBC’s “Closing Bell: Overtime” on Thursday. “The market on the surface is expensive at 21 times earnings, but as we know, that’s a handful of stocks [and] if you take that out of the S&P 500, it’s a lot cheaper,” she added. “The question now is breadth.” Market breadth measures the number of stocks that are rising versus those that are falling. Hopes for a continued cooling of inflation have boosted equities this week. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite are on pace to end the week higher. The S&P 500 has climbed 1.6%, while the Nasdaq has added 3.1%. The 30-stock Dow is the lone laggard with a 0.4% decline. Elsewhere, software giant Adobe leapt 14% in the premarket Friday after fiscal second-quarter results surpassed Wall Street estimates. Adobe also raised its full-year guidance, making the company a standout compared to peers in the software space that are citing headwinds tied to macroeconomic trends. Investors are also looking ahead to the release of the University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index preliminary June reading. U.S. Treasury yields fell again on Friday as data released this week pointed to easing inflation. The 10-year Treasury yield was trading around 4.207%, down 3 basis points. The 2-year Treasury note yield was marginally higher at 4.692%. Asia-Pacific markets were mixed after the Bank of Japan kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged on Friday, but indicated it’s considering the reduction of its purchase of Japanese government bonds. Japan’s Nikkei 225 reversed losses after the BOJ decision to close 0.24% higher at 38,814.56, while the Topix was 0.54% higher at 2,746.61. Following the BOJ decision, the Japanese yen weakened 0.64% to 158.03 against the U.S. dollar, while the yield on 10-year JGB rose marginally to 0.943% recovering from declines earlier in the session. South Korea’s Kospi ended 0.13% higher, reaching its highest point in about three months at 2,758.42, but the small cap Kosdaq fell 1.05% to close at 862.19. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.33% to close at 7,724.3. Hong Kong Hang Seng index was down 0.48%, while the CSI 300 in mainland China gained 0.44% to rebound from a near two-month low and finish at 3,541.53. Oil prices fell on Friday but were on track for their first weekly gain in four weeks as markets assessed the impact of higher-for-longer U.S. interest rates versus solid outlooks for crude and fuel demand this year. Brent crude futures were down 72 cents, or 0.87%, to $82.04 a barrel at 0100 GMT. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) U.S. crude futures lost 79 cents, or 1%, to trade at $77.84 a barrel, reversing small gains in the previous session. Gold prices rose on Friday and on track for their first weekly gain in four after U.S. economic data indicated a softening of price pressures, fuelling optimism that a rate cut by the Federal Reserve could be forthcoming. Spot gold was up 0.8% to $2,320.90 per ounce by 0959 GMT. Bullion has gained 1.3% so far for the week.
Roodeweg 222, Willemstad, Curaçao