Futures rise ahead of data, speeches from Fed officials By Reuters

(Reuters) – US stock index futures rose on Friday, with focus on the speeches of Federal Reserve officials (the US central bank) after economic data issued this week supported bets on lowering US interest rates and raised investor sentiment.

Wall Street indexes returned to record levels after last month's sell-off, as a series of economic data pointed to slowing labor market momentum, raising expectations that the Federal Reserve will cut borrowing costs more than once this year.

Traders are currently pricing in interest rate cuts of 46 basis points by the end of 2024, according to LSEG's interest rate odds tool, with the first cut of 25 basis points in September.

Expectations of easing US monetary policy, coupled with a much better-than-expected earnings season, put the benchmark index and the high-tech company on track for a third straight week of gains.

The Dow Jones, currently on its longest daily winning streak since December, is headed for a fourth week of gains.

The University of Michigan is scheduled to release its preliminary May consumer confidence survey at 10 a.m. ET.

Investors will also focus on speeches from a group of Fed policymakers — Fed Governor Michel Bowman, Minneapolis Chairman Neel Kashkari, Dallas Chairman Lori Logan, and Deputy Chairman of Supervision Michael Barr — during the day.

While most Fed policymakers have confirmed that the next policy move will be a rate cut, doubt remains about when easing will begin.

There is a great deal of uncertainty about where U.S. inflation will head in the coming months, San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank President Mary Daly said Thursday.

As of 5:57 a.m. ET, it was up 20.25 points, or 0.39%. It rose 86.25 points, or 0.47%, and added 116 points, or 0.29%.

Nvidia (NASDAQ:) shares rose 1.4% in pre-market trading after Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., the world's largest chipmaker and a major supplier to Nvidia, reported a nearly 60% jump in April sales.

Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ:) stock fell 10.6% after it forecast second-quarter revenue and earnings below Wall Street estimates, anticipating weak demand for its content delivery services.

SoundHound AI (NASDAQ:), whose technology allows humans to interact with products like phones and cars, shares jumped 16.4% after its first-quarter revenue beat market estimates.