Dow Jones futures moves little ahead of US economic data

Dow Jones futures steadied during early European trading on Thursday, ahead of the regular North American market open, trading near 45,000. S&P 500 futures fell 0.8% to trade near 6,450, while Nasdaq 100 futures declined 0.8%, trading near 23,900.

US stock futures move little as traders adopt caution ahead of the US Producer Price Index (PPI) data and weekly Initial Jobless Claims later in the day. The upcoming US economic figures could influence the US Federal Reserve’s (Fed) policy outlook.

US markets may draw support as US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in an interview on Wednesday that there is a good chance that the central bank could opt for a 50 basis point rate cut in September. Additionally, US President Donald Trump shared his "paper calculation" that Fed interest rates should be at or near 1%.

However, market sentiment also improved as the US Consumer Price Index (CPI) climbed 0.2% month-over-month in July, easing from the previous 0.3% increase. The softer monthly inflation indicated that US tariffs are not fueling price pressures, along with a cooling labor market, which reinforced a dovish sentiment surrounding Fed policy outlook. CME’s FedWatch tool suggests that Fed funds futures traders are now pricing in nearly a 96% chance of a 25 basis point (bps) interest rate cut at the September meeting.

On Wednesday’s regular market, the Dow Jones surged 1.04%, the S&P 500 climbed 0.32%, and the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.14%. AMD rose by 5.4%, and Paramount Skydance soared 36.7%. However, several mega-cap tech stocks, including Microsoft, Tesla, Nvidia, Alphabet, and Meta, declined.