U.S. stock-index futures drifted slightly lower in choppy trade Friday, as investors await a round of economic data and remarks by Federal Reserve policy makers, including Fed Chairman Jerompe Powell.
Updates on durable goods orders and consumer sentiment are also on deck.
Trading volumes may be lighter than normal ahead of a three-day weekend, with markets shut on Monday for Memorial Day.
What are markets doing?
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures YMM8, -0.05%[1] rose fell 17 points, or 0.1%, to 24,786, while S&P 500 index futures ESM8, -0.10%[2] declined 3.85 points, or 0.1%, to 2,723.75. Nasdaq-100 futures NQM8, +0.09%[3] were up 3.25 points, or less than 0.1%, at 6,9560.50.
On Thursday[4], the Dow DJIA, -0.30%[5] finished down 0.3% to 24,811.75, shaking off a loss of as much as 280.91 points earlier. The S&P 500 SPX, -0.20%[6] fell 0.2%, and the Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, -0.02%[7] closed less than 0.1% lower at 7,424.43.
As of Thursday, major indexes were looking at mostly modest weekly gains — 0.4% for the Dow, 0.6% for the S&P 500 and close to 1% for the Nasdaq Composite.
What’s driving the markets?
Investors will keep an eye on geopolitical headlines. After President Donald Trump called off a June 12 summit[8] with North Korea, a senior official from Pyongyang said its leader Kim Jong Un is still willing to meet[9]. U.S. stocks briefly tumbled Thursday on news that Trump had pulled out, but traders seemed to be finding some reassurance in North Korea’s measured response.
“We express our willingness to sit down face-to-face with the U.S. and resolve issues anytime and in any format,” said Kim Kye Gwan, a senior North Korea foreign ministry official, in a statement published by the North’s official state media. She was the same official who had harsher words for the U.S. administration a week ago.
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