FX.co ★ Futures Pointing To Roughly Flat Open On Wall Street

Stocks show a potential to remain steady in the early trading of the upcoming Friday, following a largely downward trend in the previous session. Traders may maintain a cautious approach ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy meeting that is scheduled for next week. Despite wide expectations that interest rates will be left as they are, traders are keen to scrutinize the statement that follows for any signs pointing towards future rates.

Recent inflation readings that surpassed expectations have led to diminished optimism over a potential rate cut by the Federal Reserve in June. Based on the CME FedWatch Tool, there has been an increase from a 25% to a 41.6% probability of rates remaining unchanged at the June meeting.

Meanwhile, a government report cites that import prices in the U.S. rose, conforming to economic forecasts, by 0.3% in February, following a 0.8% rise in January. On the other hand, export prices went up by 0.8% in February after an adjusted increase of 0.9% in January, outperforming economists' prediction of a 0.2% rise.

At the same time, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York pointed out a significant acceleration in the contraction of New York's manufacturing activities in March. A report on industrial production in February is due to be released by the Federal Reserve just before trading begins, with projections indicating no change from January's 0.1% decline.

The University of Michigan is also set to release the first reading of consumer sentiment in March shortly after the start of trading. The index indicating consumer sentiment is expected to remain unchanged from the 76.9 figure recorded in February.

Stocks had a somewhat ambiguous trajectory in the early stages of trading on Thursday, but mainly saw a Cline throughout the day. Even though the closing values were better than the day's lowest points, all major averages were down.

In international trading, most markets across the Asia-Pacific region have seen a decline on Friday, with Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index dropping by 1.4% and Japan's Nikkei 225 Index going down by 0.3%. Contrarily, China's Shanghai Composite Index rose by 0.5%. Most major European markets are on the rise, with both the French CAC 40 Index and German DAX Index up by 0.5% and 0.4% respectively, with the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index seeing a slight increase of 0.1%.

In commodities trading, crude oil futures have declined by $0.57, down to $80.69 a barrel following Thursday's $1.54 rise to $81.26 a barrel. Conversely, gold futures, which fell by $13.30 to $2,167.50 an ounce in the previous session, are now down a further $2.40 at $2,165.10 an ounce.

With regards to currency exchange, the U.S. dollar is valued at 148.81 yen, compared to 148.33 yen at the end of trading in New York on Thursday. Against the euro, the dollar stands at $1.0886, up slightly from $1.0883 on Thursday.