Traders Try to End Month, Quarter on High Note



Stock futures rose Friday as investors prepared to end a difficult September.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials sprinted 132 points, or 0.4%, to 34,024.

Futures for the S&P 500 picked up 16 points, or 0.4%, at 4,353.50.

Futures for the NASDAQ hiked 75.75 points, or 0.5%, to 14,935.50.

Nike shares popped more than 9% in the pre-market after the apparel giant reported fiscal first-quarter earnings that beat analyst expectations.

Wall Street is coming off a winning session, as the benchmark 10-year Treasury yield backed off from a fresh 15-year high. Those gains, however, did little to mitigate equities’ sharp losses for the month and the quarter.

The S&P 500 is set to finish the month down 4.6% and the quarter lower by 3.4%. The NASDAQ Composite is off nearly 6% in September, and down 4.3% for the quarter. This month will be the worst in 2023 for both indexes. The Dow is on track for a 3% decline this month and a 2.2% fall for the quarter.

The major averages are also on pace for modest losses on the week: The S&P 500 is off about 0.5%, while the Dow is down 0.9%. The NASDAQ is off 0.1%.

Investors are now turning their attention to the latest personal consumption expenditures price index reading due Friday. The PCE reading is the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation metric. Economists expect that the core PCE advanced 3.9% year over year in August and gained 0.2% monthly, according to Dow Jones.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 dipped 0.1% Friday, while in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng popped 2.5%

Oil prices jumped $1.19 to $92.90 U.S. a barrel.

Gold prices brightened $6.50 to $1,885.10 U.S. an ounce.