NEW YORK—U.S. stock futures pulled back slightly from earlier highs Friday morning after consumer-price data showed modest upward movement last month and underlying inflation was flat.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures gained 21 points to 10571, while Standard & Poor's 500-share futures added three points to 1125 and Nasdaq 100 futures climbed seven points to 1956. Before the report was released, Dow futures had been up 33, S&P 500 futures up four and Nasdaq 100 futures up eight.
The Labor Department said in its report Friday that the seasonally adjusted consumer-price index for August rose by 0.3% from July, in line with economists' expectations. Meanwhile, the underlying inflation rate remained unchanged, while forecasters had predicted a 0.1% rise.
Investors continued to flock to gold as a haven. December futures climbed to fresh highs above $1,280 an ounce. Treasurys also saw a pick-up in interest as concerns arose that Ireland may have to seek external assistance from the International Monetary Fund as it grapples with a budget deficit. Yield on the 10-year note fell to 2.70%.
Technology stocks got a boost from earnings released late Thursday by two closely watched companies. Blackberry maker Research in Motion climbed 4.4% in premarket trading after posting a surge in its fiscal second-quarter profit and revenue, though it added fewer new subscribers than it had expected.
Business-software company Oracle added 3.7% after its fiscal first-quarter profit grew 20% as the company benefited from new revenue from its Sun Microsystems acquisition, as well as strong demand for software licenses.
Chip maker Texas Instruments jumped 2.5% after the company announced plans to buy back $7.5 billion worth of its shares and would raise its quarterly dividend by 8%.
Pharmaceutical and health-care giant Johnson & Johnson edged up 0.1% after saying it is in advanced talks to buy all the shares of Dutch vaccine firm Crucell N.V. it doesn't already own for €1.75 billion ($2.29 billion). J&J now holds about 18% of Crucell's shares.
The U.S. dollar strengthened a bit against the euro, but weakened against the yen. Crude-oil prices edged higher.
