US equity futures remained steady ahead of Friday's opening bell as major banks commenced the latest earnings season. The futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average saw a slight gain of 0.1%, while the S&P 500 futures edged up by 0.04%. Conversely, Nasdaq futures showed a minor decline of 0.1%. In the commodities market, oil prices faced downward pressure; specifically, the front-month global benchmark North Sea Brent crude fell by 0.7%, priced at $78.85 per barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate crude also decreased by 0.7%, settling at $75.33 per barrel. In economic indicators, producer prices were released at 8:30 am ET, remaining unchanged in September after a previous increase of 0.2% in August.
This was in contrast to Bloomberg's estimates, which anticipated a 0.1% uptick. Additionally, consumer sentiment data is expected to show a reading of 70.9 for October, an improvement from September's level of 70.1. Analyzing global market movements, Japan's Nikkei index concluded its session 0.6% higher, while China's Shanghai Composite faced a 2.6% decline.
The Hong Kong market remained closed due to a holiday, and in Europe, the UK's FTSE 100 saw a slight slip of 0.1%, juxtaposed with a 0.1% gain in Germany's DAX index during the early afternoon. Focusing on equities, shares of JPMorgan experienced a pre-bell increase of 1.8%, following the release of robust Q3 earnings and revenue that exceeded analysts' expectations from Capital IQ.
Similarly, Wells Fargo's stock rose by 3.8% after reporting Q3 earnings that also surpassed projections. Notably, Aehr Test Systems stock surged by 12%, propelled by fiscal Q1 financial results that beat the estimates set by Capital IQ analysts. On the downside, Stellantis shares dropped by 3.9% as the company announced a planned restructuring of its senior management team and indicated that its CEO is expected to retire in 2026.
Investors will be keenly watching how these developments impact market trajectories in the coming sessions..