Traders prepare as sales of MDA Space Ltd begin at the New York Stock Exchange during morning trading on March 12, 2026 in New York City.
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Stock futures rose Friday as investors await key U.S. inflation data. The report comes as surging oil prices in the wake of the Iran war continues to weigh on stocks.
Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 170 points, or 0.4%. S&P 500 futures gained 0.4% along with Nasdaq 100 futures.
Stocks are coming off a losing session as oil spiked Thursday after Iran’s new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei said that the Strait of Hormuz, a critical route, should remain shut as a “tool to pressure the enemy.”
Higher oil prices, along with several other key hurdles in the market, are causing investors pain, according to Chris Toomey, managing director at Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Management.
“You’ve got the [artificial intelligence] buildout, you’ve got private credit … and this energy situation,” he said on CNBC’s “Closing Bell.” “I think the energy situation is the thing that we’re most concerned about.”
Toomey added that if Strait of Hormuz sees sustained impairment beyond two or three months, that “becomes a real problem.”
Rising crude prices and growing inflation fears have also dampened investors’ expectations for Federal Reserve interest rate cuts this year. Traders are now awaiting the release of January’s personal consumption expenditures price index — the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge — due Friday morning.
The Dow Jones consensus calls for the headline PCE to have gained 0.3% on a month-to-month basis and 2.9% from 12 months earlier. The estimate for core PCE, which excludes energy and food prices, is anticipated to have gained 0.4% for the month and 3.1% from a year earlier.
The three major averages are on pace for losses on the week. The S&P 500 is on track for a 1% decline, while the Dow is heading for a 1.7% slide. The Nasdaq is off 0.3% week to date.