Following a mostly positive end to yesterday's turbulent trading session, stocks may see a decline in early trading on Friday. The major index futures are indicating a lower opening, with S&P 500 futures down by 0.4 percent.
Profit-taking could drive initial weakness on Wall Street, particularly after the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 closed at new record highs in the previous session.
Encouraging inflation data has bolstered recent market strength; however, traders are cautious about interest rates after the Federal Reserve projected just one rate cut this year.
Easing some of these concerns, the Labor Department released a report this morning showing an unexpected decrease in U.S. import and export prices in May.
According to the Labor Department, import prices fell by 0.4 percent in May following a 0.9 percent increase in April. Economists had predicted a small rise of 0.1 percent in import prices.
Fuel import prices were mainly responsible for the decline, dropping by 2.0 percent. Prices for non-fuel imports also dipped by 0.3 percent.
Concurrently, export prices fell by 0.6 percent in May after an upwardly revised 0.6 percent increase in April. Economists had anticipated no change in export prices compared to the initially reported 0.5 percent increase for the previous month.
Shortly after trading begins, the University of Michigan will release its preliminary report on consumer sentiment for June. The consumer sentiment index is expected to rise to 72.0 in June from 69.1 in May.
Stocks displayed a relatively lackluster performance on Thursday as traders paused following Wednesday's rally. Despite the choppiness, the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 reached new record closing highs again.
The Nasdaq climbed 59.12 points or 0.3 percent to 17,667.56, and the S&P 500 rose 12.71 points or 0.2 percent to 5,433.74. Conversely, the Dow dipped 65.11 points or 0.2 percent to 38,647.10, bucking the trend.
In overseas trading, stock markets in the Asia-Pacific region had mixed results on Friday. Japan's Nikkei 225 rose by 0.2 percent, and China's Shanghai Composite Index edged up by 0.1 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell by 0.9 percent.
The major European markets are all moving down today. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index is slightly lower, the German DAX Index is down by 1.1 percent, and the French CAC 40 Index is down by 2.1 percent.
In commodities trading, crude oil futures are up $0.32 to $78.94 a barrel after rising $0.12 to $78.62 a barrel on Thursday. After dropping $36.80 to $2,318 an ounce in the previous session, gold futures are jumping $25.10 to $2,343.10 an ounce.
On the currency front, the U.S. dollar is trading at 157.25 yen, up from 157.03 yen at the close of New York trading on Thursday. Against the euro, the dollar is valued at $1.0687 compared to $1.0737 yesterday.
