U.S. stock futures ticked higher Friday to close out a winning month after the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge came in about as expected. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures added 88 points, or 0.2%. S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures each advanced 0.3%. Stock futures took a leg up following the latest inflation data released Friday morning. The core personal consumption expenditures price index increased 0.2% in April, in line with the consensus forecast of economists polled by Dow Jones. Core PCE rose 2.8% on an annualized basis, slightly above the 2.7% prediction from economists. Friday’s action comes near the end of what’s shaping up to be a winning May, with each of the major benchmarks set to register a sixth positive month in seven. The Dow is up 0.8% this month, while the S&P 500 is higher by around 4%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite has gained nearly 7%, which would mark its best month going back to November. A chunk of May’s gains can be attributed to a surge in Nvidia, which released blockbuster earnings last week. The artificial intelligence darling’s shares climbed more than 2% in Friday’s premarket trading and are poised to end the month nearly 28% higher. But May’s ascent took a breather during this holiday-shortened trading week. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite were each on pace to snap five-week win streaks with slides of more than 1%. The Dow slipped around 2.5%, heading for a second straight week of losses. Traders also digested the latest company earnings results. Dell Technologies tumbled 16% even after its first-quarter results beat expectations. Cloud security stock Zscaler surged 15%, while developer data platform MongoDB plunged almost 24%. Apparel retailer Gap surged more than 22%, while department store chain Nordstrom slid more than 2%. U.S. Treasury yields were slightly lower on Friday after the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation data came in mostly in line with economist expectations. The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield fell more than 3 basis points to 4.518%. The 2-year Treasury yield was down more than 1 basis point to 4.912%. Asia-Pacific markets mostly rose on Friday as investors parsed data from major economies across the region. Mainland China’s CSI 300 index reversed earlier gains to end 0.4% lower at 3,579.92, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index erased gains to trade 0.2% lower. Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 1.14% to close 38,487.9, while the broader Topix index gained 1.7% to end at 2,772.49. South Korea’s Kospi ended flat at 2,636.52, while the smaller-cap Kosdaq closed 0.96% lower at 839.98. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 index rose 0.96% to close at 7,701.7. U.S. crude oil was on pace Friday for its worst month of the year, ahead of an OPEC+ meeting this weekend during which the cartel will review its production levels. U.S. oil is down 4.8% in May, while global benchmark Brent has fallen 7.2%. West Texas Intermediate July contract: $77.90 a barrel, down 1 cent. Year to date, U.S. crude oil has gained 9%. Brent July contract: $81.69 a barrel, down 17 cents, or 0.21%. Year to date, the global benchmark has added 6.4%. Gold prices were set for a fourth straight monthly gain, even as the market struggled for momentum on Friday ahead of a key U.S. inflation reading that could provide more indications on how the Federal Reserve might proceed with rate cuts later this year. Spot gold was unchanged at $2,344.17 per ounce. Bullion prices are up 0.4% so far this week and 2.5% so far in the month. U.S. gold futures were flat to $2,365.