US futures fall on cautious countdown to PCE printing

U.S. stock futures closed mixed on Wednesday amid caution ahead of a key inflation report that could guide expectations for interest rate cuts.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) and S&P 500 (^GSPC) both fell by 0.4%, while futures for the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 (^NDX) led the decline by about 0.5%.

Stocks struggled on the last day of February as new economic data helped bring the AI-hyped market back to the reality of a prolonged period of high interest rates. Investors have spent this week counting down to Thursday’s PCE inflation announcement, which is seen as key in determining how quickly the Federal Reserve will start cutting interest rates.

Meanwhile, a report on fourth-quarter GDP is due on Wednesday, along with statistics on mortgage applications and consumer spending.

In other asset markets, Bitcoin (BTC-USD) continued its ferocious rally, topping $59,000 early Wednesday and coming close to hitting a new all-time high. With the arrival of the Spot Bitcoin ETF, the cryptocurrency has reached levels not seen since late 2021.

Among major companies, Beyond Meat (BYND) shares soared more than 60% in premarket trading after the plant-based meat company’s CEO promised to cut costs in a restructuring bid.