US pre-open: Futures in the green as softer CPI print fuels rate‑cut hopes

(Sharecast News) - Wall Street futures were in the green ahead of the bell on Friday as sentiment continued to be buoyed by Thursday's cooler-than-expected consumer price index reading. As of 1230 GMT, Dow Jones futures were up 0.02%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures had the indices opening 0.25% and 0.42% firmer, respectively.

The Dow closed 65.88 points higher on Thursday, snapping a four-day losing streak, as the latest CPI print showed consumer prices rose 2.7% year‑on‑year in November, undershooting forecasts and fuelling hopes that the Federal Reserve could begin cutting rates in 2026.

Some economists, however, cautioned that the report, the first since the autumn Federal government shutdown, may see methodology‑related distortions that could prompt a rebound in December's figures.

Traders were bracing for potential volatility ahead of the bell on Friday as "quadruple witching" approaches, with options on four asset classes set to expire. More than $7.1trn in notional exposure was due to roll off - marking the largest options expiry on record.

Rostro's Joshua Mahony said: "US markets are on the front-foot following yesterday's inflation report, with a surprise collapse in both headline and core CPI lifting sentiment. Notably, a look into the figures does raise questions, with the BLS seemingly going on the assumption that many of the inflation figures for October were simply put down as 0%. Clearly the shutdown has not only caused missing data, but there are significant questions over the quality of the data released since.

"As we close out a week that has seen a huge amount of data and central bank announcements, there is an expectation that we start to see volumes and volatility ease off from here."

On the macro front, November existing home sales will be published at 1500 GMT, as will the University of Michigan's December consumer sentiment index.

In the corporate space, Nike traded lower in pre-market action after the sportswear giant reported weaker second‑quarter revenue in Greater China and flagged pressure on gross margins from higher tariffs.

Cruise line operator Carnival was slated to report earnings before the opening bell.







Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com