Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on September 9, 2024.
Spencer Pratt | Getty Images
U.S. stock futures were little changed Thursday night as traders tried to shake off a weak September month.
S&P 500 Futures It fell 0.07%. Dow Jones Industrial Average Hovering near the flat line, Nasdaq 100 Futures It fell 0.13%.
Investors bought up shares of big technology companies in regular trading on Thursday. NVIDIA,lift S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite Index It was the fourth consecutive day of declines. The September composite index fell 0.9%. Dow It rose about 0.6% on Thursday, helped by gains in Salesforce and Microsoft.
Wall Street is now focused on the Federal Reserve's (Fed) policy meeting on September 17-18. The Fed is widely expected to cut interest rates by 25 basis points. Currently, the Fed's target rate is between 5.25% and 5.5%.
Economic data reflecting easing inflation is also likely to boost trader morale and support a rate cut. The Consumer Price Index rose 2.5% annualized in August, the lowest since February 2021. Meanwhile, wholesale prices rose 0.2% in August, in line with expectations.
“At the end of the day, the American consumer and the economy are doing well. [and] “Earnings continue to beat expectations,” Dan Greenhaus, chief strategist at Solus Alternative Asset Management, said on CNBC's “Closing Bell” on Thursday.
“Yes, there has been some significant selling off of some AI-related stocks, but the rally seems entirely justified as these issues do not appear to be widespread,” he added.
The three major indexes are also expected to post weekly gains, with the S&P 500 up 3.5% and the Nasdaq up 5.3%. The Dow is up 1.9% so far this week.
On the economic front, traders will be focusing on import price data for August on Friday morning, along with preliminary September consumer confidence readings.
