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Investing.com — U.S. stock futures traded largely unchanged at the end of a largely positive week, with investors awaiting key consumer sentiment data following the Federal Reserve policy-setting meeting.
By 06:50 ET (10:50 GMT), the contract was down 10 points, or 0.1%, traded flat and climbed 10 points, or 0.1%.
The main Wall Street indices all posted gains of over 1%, on course for hefty weekly gains, running into the long weekend, after the paused its year-long rate-hiking cycle earlier in the week.
Hefty weekly gains likely
The broad-based is up nearly 3% so far this week, on pace to register its best weekly performance since March. The is up nearly 4%, the tech-heavy index’s longest weekly streak since March 2019, while the blue chip has gained 1.6%.
While the U.S. central bank hit pause after 10 consecutive interest rate increases since last year, it also guided towards two further hikes this year if the situation allows.
The main data release Friday will be the University of Michigan’s reading, with analysts expecting the reading for June to be 60, up from 59.2 in the previous reading.
Investors will also study comments from Fed officials, , and Thomas Barkin for clues about future central bank actions.
Adobe benefits from AI demand
In corporate news, Adobe (NASDAQ:) will be in the spotlight after the software giant posted healthy quarterly figures, benefiting from its efforts to drive up demand with generative artificial intelligence integrations.
Intel (NASDAQ:) announced plans to invest up to $4.6 billion in a new semiconductor assembly and test facility in Poland, as part of a multi-billion-dollar investment drive across Europe to build chip capacity.
Virgin Galactic (NYSE:) stock soared 40% premarket after the space travel company announced on Thursday its long-awaited commercial spaceflight service would launch later this month.
Oil market volatile after busy central bank week
Crude prices slipped Friday, continuing the previous session’s weakness with sentiment fragile as central banks continue to signal further interest rate increases that could slow economic growth and reduce oil demand.
By 06:50 ET, futures were 0.8% lower at $70.06 a barrel, while the contract dropped 0.7% to $75.17 per barrel.
Prices have been volatile this week, after surging about 3% during the prior session, as traders digested a series of central bank meetings, a dump of economic data as well as a , which makes oil, which is denominated in dollars, cheaper for foreign buyers.
Whether the market can continue to push higher “may well depend on what further improvements we see in the data and what policy actions are announced by the PBOC in the coming weeks,” said analyst Craig Erlam at MarketPulse.
“We probably can’t count on OPEC+ to do anything of significance any time soon after the Saudis were effectively forced to go it alone last week.”
Additionally, rose 0.3% to $1,976.85/oz, while traded 0.1% higher at 1.0949.
(Oliver Gray contributed to this item.)
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