US stock indexes were set to open higher on Friday, as Johnson & Johnson and big technology stocks led gains at the end of a week scarred by deepening concerns over prolonged inflation.
Johnson & Johnson rose 2.8% in premarket trading after saying it planned to break up into two companies focused on its consumer health business and the large pharmaceuticals unit.
Shares of mega-cap technology and communication stocks including Google-owner Alphabet Inc, Microsoft Corp , Meta Platforms Inc, formerly known as Facebook, Apple Inc and Amazon.com inched up between 0.3% and 0.5%.
But Tesla Inc slid 1.2% after top boss Elon Musk sold more shares of the electric-car maker, worth about $687 million, after offloading about $5 billion worth of stock following a poll he posted on Twitter.
Wall Street's main indexes tracked weekly declines of more than 1%, their first since the turn of October, as hot US inflation readings sapped investor sentiment and halted an earnings-driven streak of record closing highs.
"Inflation drives earnings up, but it does get to a point where it starts to hurt the consumer," said David Wagner, portfolio manager at Aptus Capital Advisors.
"The market right now is still looking through inflation as if it's transitory and that's going to continue into the end of the year because of all the supply chain problems."
Wall St set to open lower as surge in consumer prices fans inflation fears
Rising price pressures globally have become a top concern for investors, with focus now shifting to how inflation will impact consumer spending as the holiday shopping season nears.
A University of Michigan survey on consumer sentiment in early November was due at 10 am ET.
At 8:37 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 111 points, or 0.31%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 10.75 points, or 0.23%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 40.25 points, or 0.25%.
US-listed shares of Alibaba Group Holding slipped 1.1% after the e-commerce giant said its sales during the Singles Day event grew at the slowest rate ever, underscoring the headwinds for China's tech firms.
Biogen Inc rose 2.0% after late-stage studies found its Alzheimer's drug Aduhelm significantly lowered blood levels of an abnormal form of the protein tau that accumulates in the brains of people with the disease.
Meanwhile, Reuters reported President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping are expected to hold a virtual summit on Monday amid tensions over trade, human rights and military activities.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.