U.S. stock index futures were flat in overnight trading Thursday as Wall Street took a hit from profit-taking even as inflation showed signs of slowing, with focus now shifting to the second-quarter earnings season.
The index settled at 5,641.50 points, while it settled at 20,444.25 points by 19:03 ET (23:03 GMT). The index rose slightly to 40,123.0 points.
Weak CPI data increases bets on September rate cut
The consumer price index reading came in lower than expected in June, prompting investors to ramp up bets that the Federal Reserve will start cutting interest rates in September.
Core inflation grew at a slower-than-expected 3% year-on-year in June, while it grew at 3.3%, also lower than expected.
The reading showed traders now see a greater than 85% chance that the Fed will cut interest rates by 25 basis points in September, a sharp jump from the 65% odds seen a day earlier, according to .
But the decline in inflation, along with other moderate readings for the U.S. economy in recent weeks, has raised some concerns about slowing growth.
Wall Street falls as tech companies take profits
But despite growing optimism about interest rate cuts, Wall Street indexes retreated from record highs on Thursday, weighed down mainly by big losses in technology stocks.
The losses came as investors gathered a measure of recent gains in the sector, which has steadily risen in recent weeks on the hype around artificial intelligence.
Market darling NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:) shares fell 0.8% in after-market trading after falling 5.6% on Thursday.
Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:) shares fell 2% after falling 8.5% after a report that the company’s self-driving taxi unveiling would be delayed to October from August.
The technology sector was the heaviest factor in Wall Street’s performance on Thursday, after leading a massive rally in stocks over the past few weeks.
The Dubai Financial Market General Index fell 0.9% to close at 5,584.54 points, while the Dubai Financial Market General Index fell 1.9% to close at 18,288.62 points, and the Dubai Financial Market General Index rose 0.1% to close at 39,753.75 points.
Q2 Earnings Season Begins With Banks
The market is now fully focused on the second-quarter earnings season, which is set to begin in earnest with a series of major bank earnings on Friday.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:), Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:), City Group Inc. (NYSE:) and Bank of New York Mellon (NYSE:) are scheduled to report earnings today. Next week, major companies including Goldman Sachs Group BlackRock Inc. (NYSE:), Morgan Stanley General Electric Co. (NYSE:GE) and Bank of America Corp. (NYSE:BAC) are scheduled to report earnings on Monday and Tuesday.
Much of the attention will be focused on whether corporate earnings have been affected by higher interest rates and steady inflation, which are expected to cause some slowdown in the U.S. economy in the second quarter.