Dow Futures Steady As Investors Turn Cautious After Record Rally: INTC, PARA, CHTR Among Stocks To Watch

U.S. stocks appear set for a cautious opening on Friday as investors exercise restraint ahead of the Federal Reserve’s meeting next week, amid increasing pressure on Chair Jerome Powell from the Trump administration to cut rates..

On Thursday, President Donald Trump made a formal visit to the central bank amid criticism of the Fed’s $2.5 billion building project. He also said he would not fire Powell, according to a Reuters report.

While Dow Jones futures were up 0.11% at the time of writing, the S&P 500 futures edged up 0.09%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100’s futures were flat. Futures of the Russell 2000 index were up 0.19%.

Meanwhile, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) gained 0.16% at the time of writing, while Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) was up 0.08% on Friday morning. Retail sentiment around the S&P 500 ETF on Stocktwits was in the ‘neutral’ territory.

Asian markets ended Friday’s trading session on a largely negative note, with the Hang Seng index falling the most at 1.36%, followed by the Nikkei 225 at 0.87%, the Shanghai Composite at 0.34%, and the TWSE Capitalization Weighted Stock index at 0.04%.Hang Seng at 0.35%.

KOSPI closed 0.18% higher.

Stocks To Watch

• Intel Corp. (INTC): The chipmaker reported a loss of $0.1 per share and revenue of $12.9 billion in the second quarter. It stated that the company's headcount will be reduced to 75,000 by the end of the year, a 22% decrease from the end of 2024.
• Paramount Global (PARA): The entertainment giant received approval from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for its $8 billion merger with Skydance Media.
• Centene Corp. (CNC): Centene’s shares fell nearly 11% pre-market after the health insurer posted a surprise loss of $0.16 per share, while Wall Street expected earnings per share (EPS) of $2.1, according to Fiscal AI data.
• Charter Communications Inc. (CHTR), HCA Healthcare Inc. (HCA) are among the companies scheduled to report their latest earnings on Friday.

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Also See: Trump Bemoans 'Radical Globalism,' Targets US Tech Companies Building And Hiring In China, India: 'We Want You To Put America First'