Wall Street nudged higher in early trading Friday as markets try to close out another record-setting week with gains.
Futures for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq each rose 0.1% before the bell, while futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average were flat.
FedEx initially jumped more than 5% after it posted better first-quarter profit and revenue than Wall Street forecast, but then lost most of those of gains.
The package delivery company's results, which has been dealing with declining revenue since the pandemic
boom of 2021 and 2022, said it expects 4% to 6% revenue growth for the current fiscal year.
However, executives said the company expects to take a $1 billion hit to its full-year operating margin due to the “global trade environment,” or tariffs.
Among the decliners in premarket trading was the homebuilder Lennar, which fell 2.5% after its third-quarter revenue declined from a year ago. Lennar's revenue also missed Wall Street expectations as the housing market remains in a yearslong slump.
Wall Street's string of records continued Thursday as Nvidia and Intel led a rally for technology stocks on the announcement of their deal that includes a $5 billion investment.
Expectations are high on Wall Street that the Federal Reserve will keep cutting interest rates as it did on Wednesday, though an unexpected pause in cuts could send stocks tumbling. Critics say stock prices are already overpriced, in part because of heavy bets on continued cuts in rates.
At midday in Europe Germany's DAX fell 0.2%, the CAC 40 in Paris added 0.2%. Britain's FTSE 100 was unchanged.
Japan's Nikkei 225 switched from gains to losses, closing nearly 0.6% lower to 45,045.81, after the BOJ decided to keep its benchmark short-term interest rate unchanged at 0.5% and announced plans to start selling its exchange-traded fund holdings and real-estate investment trusts. Data released Friday also showed the country's annual inflation in August slowed to a 10-month low at 2.7%, from 3.1% the previous month.
In Chinese markets, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index shed less than 0.1% to 26,537.97 while the Shanghai Composite index edged down less than 0.1% to 3,829.34. Investors are awaiting a phone call later Friday between U.S. President Donald Trump and China's President Xi Jinping on tariffs and finalizing a deal to allow TikTok to keep operating in the United States.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 climbed 0.3% to 8,773.50 after losses a day earlier, when data indicated the jobs market was showing signs of softness.
South Korea' Kospi fell nearly 0.5% to 3,445.24. India's BSE Sensex edged down 0.4%, trimming earlier gains. Taiwan's Taiex dipped 0.7%.
In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude lost 37 cents to $62.89 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, shed 30 cents to $67.14 per barrel.
The U.S. dollar rose to 148.02 yen from 147.92 yen. The euro slipped to $1.1744 from $1.790.
