U.S. stock index futures fell on Friday as investors turned cautious ahead of a fresh reading on monthly inflation that could offer clues on further monetary policy tightening by the Federal Reserve.
The core personal consumption expenditure (PCE) index is expected to have risen 0.4% on a monthly basis in January from 0.3% in December. Annual core PCE, however, is seen easing to 4.3% last month from 4.4%. The data is expected at 8:30 a.m. ET.
The three major U.S. indexes are set for weekly losses despite a modest rebound in the previous session, with the blue-chip Dow (.DJI) set for post losses for February.
After a strong January, equity markets have retreated this month as a slew of economic data fed into worries that the central bank might have to keep interest rates higher for longer on sticky inflation and a resilient labor market.
Market participants expect the Fed fund rates to peak at 5.35% by July and stay near those levels till year-end.
Megacap stocks like Tesla Inc (TSLA.O), Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) and Nvidia Corp (NVDA.O) slid around 1% each in premarket trading as yield on the benchmark U.S. 10-year Treasury note edged up.
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