Stock futures edged higher on Friday as investors turned their attention to big bank earnings after the major indexes staged a historic reversal rally.
Futures linked to the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 68 points, or 0.23%. S&P 500 futures rose 0.06%, while Nasdaq 100 futures fell 0.15%.
JPMorgan and Wells Fargo rose after earnings beat estimates. Shares in Morgan Stanley fell more than 2 percent in premarket trading after reporting a missed profit. Citigroup also plans to report before the opening bell.
Dow member UnitedHealth also reported quarterly results on Friday, with earnings and revenue topping expectations. UnitedHealth shares rose 1.59%.
The reports came a day after a massive market rally. The Dow closed up 827 points on Thursday after falling more than 500 points from an intraday low. The S&P 500 rose 2.6%, breaking a six-day losing streak, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 2.2%.
The moves follow the release of the consumer price index, a key U.S. inflation reading for September, which came in above expectations. Initially, this weighed on the market as investors braced for the Fed to continue its aggressive rate hike program. Later, however, they shrugged off those concerns.
Still, persistent inflation remains a concern for the Fed and investors over central bank tightening.
“With core CPI still headed in the wrong direction, the labor market is strong, and the conditions for the Fed’s policy shift are not there yet,” UBS Global Wealth Management wrote. Chief Investment Officer Mark Haefele in a report Friday. “Furthermore, if inflation remains elevated for longer and the Fed raises rates further, the cumulative effect of policy tightening raises the risk of pushing the U.S. economy into a recession, weakening the outlook for corporate earnings.”
There’s more economic data coming this week. Retail sales for September will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. Later in the morning, investors looked ahead to the latest consumer confidence data from the University of Michigan.