Wall Street Futures Steady as Investors Await Key PCE Inflation Data

Wall Street index futures held steady on Tuesday evening after strong gains during the main session, supported by growing expectations that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates in December. However, caution crept back into markets as investors waited for Wednesday’s PCE inflation data, a key indicator that will influence the Fed’s policy direction.

S&P 500 Futures hovered around 6,781.50 points, while Nasdaq 100 Futures were stable at 25,079.75. Dow Jones Futures also held firm at 47,199. Despite the calm in futures, sentiment remained mixed as tech stocks faced volatility. Reports that Alphabet’s Google plans to develop its own artificial intelligence chips weighed heavily on established chipmakers, particularly Nvidia, raising concerns about increased competition in the AI semiconductor industry.

Alphabet shares climbed to a record high, and Meta advanced nearly 4% following reports the companies were discussing potential use of Google’s AI chips. In contrast, Nvidia slid 2.6% and continued to fall in after-hours trading. AMD also declined, extending a broader retreat in AI and semiconductor-related stocks that have faced valuation concerns throughout November.

During Tuesday’s session, major U.S. indexes closed higher as hopes for a December rate cut grew. The S&P 500 rose 0.9% to 6,765.88, the NASDAQ Composite gained 0.7% to 23,025.59, and the Dow jumped 1.4% to 47,112.14. Softer retail sales and in-line producer inflation data supported expectations of cooling price pressures, bolstering sentiment that the Fed has room to ease in its December 9–10 meeting. According to the CME FedWatch Tool, markets now assign an 80.2% probability of a 25-basis-point cut, up significantly from last week’s 43.4%.

All eyes now turn to September’s PCE price index report. While core PCE is expected to remain above the Fed’s 2% target, some officials signaled that protecting the labor market may outweigh short-term inflation concerns, even without October data ahead of the meeting.