US pre-open: Futures trade lower following Thursday's solid gains

(Sharecast News) - Wall Street futures were pointing to a negative opening ahead of the bell on Thursday after recording solid gains in the previous session. As of 1230 GMT, Dow Jones futures were down 0.23%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures had the indices opening 0.22% and 0.35% points lower, respectively.

The Dow closed 163.51 points higher on Wednesday as producer prices turned in their biggest monthly decline since April 2020 last month.

Wednesday's producer price data came just 24 hours after another report revealed October's consumer price index had remained flat month-on-month, leaving traders hopeful that the Federal Reserve may very well have seen enough to put the kibosh on its interest rate hiking campaign.

Scope Markets' Joshua Mahony said: "Market optimism appears to be cooling off after a bumper period of gains for equity markets, built on growing expectations that the Fed are finished with their historic tightening process. With markets now pricing a mere 1% chance of another hike, markets are now more concerned with the timing of the first rate cut and the pace of easing. As things stand, markets are expecting 100 basis points worth of rate cuts next year, with precious metals and cryptocurrencies the early movers on the premise of a more advantageous macro environment."

In the corporate space, Cisco Systems shares were down in pre-market trading after issuing weak full-year guidance, while Palo Alto Networks also traded lower on the back of a disappointing forecast for billings.

On the macro front, weekly jobless claims data from the Labor Department will be out at 1330 GMT, as will import/export price data and the Philadelphia Federal Reserve's November manufacturing survey, while industrial production figures will follow at 1415 GMT and the National Association of Housebuilders' November market index will be published at 1500 GMT.

Market participants will also digest comments from central bank officials including Cleveland President Loretta Mester and New York President John Williams.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com