Investing.com –Wall Street futures pointed to a slightly lower open on Friday as investors looked ahead to data on inflation and consumer sentiment in what will be the last two major references for the Federal Reserve (Fed) to digest before making its policy decision on Wednesday.
The blue-chip Dow futures fell 77 points, or 0.42%, by 6:50AM ET (10:50AM GMT), the S&P 500 futures lost 10 points, or 0.46%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures traded down 16 points, or 0.34%.
Barring some housing market data at the beginning of next week, August inflation data, out at 8:30AM ET (12:30GMT), and the Michigan consumer sentiment for September will be the last two key factors that could influence the Fed’s decision.
Markets expect consumer price inflation (CPI) to inch forward to 1.0% on an annualized basis with the core CPI standing pat at 2.2%.
Meanwhile, consumer sentiment is expected to improve from 89.8 to 90.8 in the preliminary reading for this month.
Former U.S. Treasury Secretary and White House economic adviser Larry Summers stated late Thursday that inflation and economic conditions stateside provided no reason for the Federal Reserve (Fed) to hike interest rates next week.
“I think there’s no compelling case of any kind for a rate increase in September,” Summers said in an interview on BloombergTV focused on a paper suggesting that regulatory measures have done little to increase the safety of major financial institutions.
Markets appeared to agree with Summers’ outlook for U.S. monetary policy with Fed fund futures pricing in only a 9% chance of a hike next week, according to Investing.com’s Fed Rate Monitor Tool.
In oil markets, crude prices fell on Friday on worries that U.S. rig counts would continue to rise and that returning Libyan and Nigerian exports would stoke a global supply glut.
Stoking that concern, Iran’s exports hit another record high in August, according to sources cited by Reuters on Friday.
According to the report, strong demand in Asia and Europe allowed Iran to produce just over 3.8 million barrels per day (bpd), though that was still shy of the 4 million bpd that the country had said was a precondition for discussing output limits with Saudi Arabia and Russia at the informal gathering on the sidelines of the International Energy Forum on September 26 to 28.
Still ahead, Baker Hughes U.S. rig count data for the week to Sept. 16 is due later on Friday. Last week, the oil services firm reported that U.S. drillers added oil rigs for a tenth straight week.
U.S. crude futures slumped 1.66% to $43.18 by 6:50AM ET (10:50AM GMT), while Brent oil tumbled 1.76% to $45.77.
Elsewhere, eyes were on Deutsche Bank AG NA O.N. (DE:DBKGn) Friday as shares tumbled more than 7% after the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) slapped the German financial institution with a $14 billion fine to settle an investigation into its selling of mortgage-backed securities in the run-up to the financial crisis.
Deutsche Bank said Friday it has no intention of settling the claims at the mentioned figure.
European stocks were mostly lower as the fine weighed on the financial sector.
Earlier, Asian shares ended higher in holiday-thinned trade, as investors remained cautious before the Federal Reserve and the Bank of Japan policy setting meetings next week. Markets in China, Taiwan and South Korea were closed for public holidays.