Dow Jones Today: Stock Futures Slightly Higher Ahead of Key Inflation Report as Major Indexes on Track for February Losses

Stock futures are slightly higher Friday morning ahead of the release of closely followed inflation data, as the market looks to wrap up the month on a high note after a volatile stretch of trading. 

Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 were up 0.5% and 0.2%, respectively, about an hour before the opening bell, while those linked to the tech-heavy Nasdaq were down less than 0.1%. The major indexes closed sharply lower on Thursday as a sell-off in shares of Nvidia (NVDA) following the release of the AI chipmaker’s earnings report sent technology stocks reeling.

The U.S, stock market has stumbled over the past week amid mounting concerns about the health of the economy and uncertainty about the impact of policies being pursued by the Trump White House. Just over a week ago the S&P 500 hit all-time highs, while the Dow and Nasdaq were near records of their own. Heading into the last trading day of the month, the Nasdaq is down 5.5% in February, while the S&P 500 and Dow are each off about 3%.

Investors are anxiously awaiting this morning’s release of the Federal Reserve’s preferred measure of inflation. The Personal Consumption Expenditures report, scheduled for release at 8:30 a.m. ET, is expected to show that inflation decelerated last month. That could alleviate concerns that the Fed won’t be in a position to cut interest rates this year, though Trump’s plans to impose tariffs, which economists say could cause a rise in consumer prices, will remain a wild card.

Nvidia shares were under pressure again in premarket trading, down 2.5%, after plunging more than 8% yesterday. Among other large-cap tech stocks, shares of EV maker Tesla (TSLA), which has lost nearly a third of their value so far this year, were down about 1.5%. Apple (AAPL), Microsoft (MSFT), Amazon (AMZN), Alphabet (GOOG), Meta Platforms (META) and Broadcom (AVGO) were little changed.

Shares of Dell (DELL) were down more than 6% this morning despite a better-than-expected earnings report from the PC and server maker, while HP (HPQ) slipped 3% after issuing a disappointing outlook.

Strategy (MSTR), which was formerly known as MicroStrategy and is among the world’s largest holders of bitcoin, was down nearly 3% as the digital currency fell to a new three-month low. Shares of cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase Global (COIN) and bitcoin miner MARA Holdings (MARA) also fell about 3%.

Bitcoin was at $80,600 in recent trading, after falling as low as $78,200 overnight, its lowest level since just after the U.S. presidential election in November. The cryptocurrency, which hit a record high of around $109,000 last month, has given back nearly all of the gains that were sparked, in part, by optimism that a crypto-friendly Trump administration would support policies that benefit the asset class.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury, which is correlated with expectations about where interest rates are headed and affects borrowing costs on all sorts of loans, was at 4.25%, down from 4.29% at yesterday’s close.

Gold futures were down 0.8% at $2,870 an ounce, while West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures fell 1.2% to $69.50.