NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street is drifting toward the close of its worst month since April following an economic report highlighting both encouraging and discouraging trends. The S&P 500 was basically flat early Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 120 points, and the Nasdaq composite fell 0.7%. Treasury yields were holding relatively steady after a report said inflation decelerated a bit last month and behaved almost exactly as economists expected in an encouraging sign for the market. But the report also said that U.S. consumers cut back on their spending. That’s a potentially more dangerous signal when consumers have already said they’re worried about tariffs.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
(AP) — Wall Street is having a small rebound before the opening bell Friday but remains on track for another dismal week of losses as investors try to anticipate what President Donald Trump's tariffs mean for markets and the broader economy.
Futures for the S&P 500 inched up 0.2%, while futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.4%. The S&P 500 has lost 2.5% this week on top of the previous week's 1.7% drop.
The S&P 500 has fallen five out of the past six trading sessions after setting an all-time high last week. Concerns about the U.S. economic outlook have been behind much of the drop, including worries over how tariffs could worsen inflation and mass layoffs of government workers could increase unemployment.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq, which slumped 5% this week, is up less than 0.1% before the bell.
Nvidia slipped 1% before the bell following its 8% decline a day earlier, even as the chipmaker reported strong earnings and raised guidance. Sky-high expectations for the darling of artificial intelligence prompted investors to collect profits this week.
Between Thursday and premarket trading on Friday, Super Micro Computer more than gave back its gains from earlier in the week when it announced it had finally filed the required financial reports required to remain listed on the Nasdaq. Its shares were down 6.5% in premarket trading following Thursday's 16% tumble.
Tesla shares were off less than 1% early Friday, continuing its string of losses that trimmed the value of the electric car maker's shares by 17% this week alone.
Some industry analysts suspect that sagging European sales — along with CEO Elon Musk's embrace of far-right politics around the globe — has repelled a significant chunk of potential Tesla buyers. Earlier this week, Tesla's market cap dipped below $1 trillion.
Coming later Friday morning is the U.S. government’s latest consumer spending report, which contains the Federal Reserve’s preferred measure of inflation.
On Thursday, Trump reiterated that his administration's proposed tariffs on Canadian and Mexican imports would go into effect as scheduled on March 4.
China’s Commerce Ministry issued a statement Friday protesting Trump’s decision to double tariffs on Chinese products to 20%, saying it violated international trade rules and would add to the “burden on American companies and consumers and undermine the stability of the global industrial chain.”
Shares retreated Friday in Asia, with benchmarks in Japan, Hong Kong and South Korea tumbling more than 2%.
Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index lost 2.9% to 37,155.50, pulled lower by plunging prices for shares in technology companies. Computer chip test equipment maker Advantest sank 8.8%, Disco Corp., another equipment maker, lost 10.3% and Tokyo Electron shed 4.5%.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng index dropped 3.3% to 22,941.32, while the Shanghai Composite index lost 2% to 3,320.90.
South Korea's Kospi gave up 3.4% to 2,532.78. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 shed 1.2% to 8,172.40.
In Europe at midday, Germany’s DAX fell 0.5%, while the CAC 40 in Paris gave up 0.4%. Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 0.4%.
Elaine Kurtenbach And Matt Ott, The Associated Press
