United States stock futures were steady in overnight trade Thursday (Friday AEST) following a rally that carried all three major benchmarks to record highs, with investors holding firm to expectations that the Federal Reserve will cut rates next week.
By 9:15 am AEST (11:15 pm GMT), Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq 100 futures were each trading within ±0.1%.
In extended trading, Adobe gained nearly 2.7% after the design software giant reported stronger-than-expected fiscal third-quarter results.
Luxury furniture retailer RH dropped 7.5% after missing revenue forecasts.
Super Micro Computer rose more than 4.2% after announcing it had begun volume shipments of Nvidia’s Blackwell Ultra solutions to customers worldwide.
During Thursday's regular trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 1.4%, the S&P 500 rose 0.9%, and the Nasdaq advanced 0.7%, with all three benchmarks closing at record highs.
The week-to-date gains now stand at about 1.6% for each index.
On the economic front, the consumer price index showed a 0.4% increase in August, hotter than the 0.3% rise markets had expected.
On a 12-month basis, CPI rose 2.9%, in line with forecasts.
Core CPI, excluding food and energy, increased 0.3% on the month and 3.1% annually, matching expectations.
The inflation reading was largely overshadowed by a sharp increase in jobless claims. Initial claims for unemployment benefits rose by 27,000 to 263,000 for the week ended September 6, the highest level since October 2021 and well above consensus forecasts of 235,000.
The combination of softer labour market signals and manageable inflation has strengthened investor conviction that the Fed will deliver an interest rate cut at its two-day policy meeting next week. Traders have also priced in a high likelihood of further reductions later this year.
