U.S. stock futures rose on Friday after ending on a mixed note on Thursday. Futures of major benchmark indices were higher.

While President Donald Trump‘s new "reciprocal tariffs" took effect, he announced that he would nominate the White House’s top economist, Stephen Miran, to a short-term seat on the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors.

Furthermore, Trump signed two executive orders on Thursday advancing the role of digital assets in the U.S. financial system. One order allows 401(k) retirement plans to include cryptocurrencies, while the other targets what the administration calls discriminatory banking practices against crypto firms.

Meanwhile, the 10-year Treasury bond yielded 4.25% and the two-year bond was at 3.74%. The CME Group's FedWatch tool‘s projections show markets pricing an 89.4 % likelihood of the Federal Reserve cutting the current interest rates for the Sept. 17 decision.

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE:SPY) and Invesco QQQ Trust ETF (NASDAQ:QQQ), which track the S&P 500 index and Nasdaq 100 index, respectively, rose in premarket on Friday. The SPY was up 0.30% at $634.15, while the QQQ advanced 0.32% to $571.06, according to Benzinga Pro data.

Cues From Last Session:

On Thursday, utilities, information technology, and consumer staples stocks recorded the biggest gains, while health care and financial sectors bucked the trend and closed lower. Despite these gains in some sectors, U.S. stocks settled mixed.

The market’s performance was influenced by several corporate and economic reports. For instance, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) climbed more than 3%, adding to Wednesday’s 5.1% gain, as investors speculated the tech giant might avoid new import duties, as it announced a total of $600 billion investment in the U.S.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) also reported better-than-expected earnings for the second quarter. Conversely, Eli Lilly And Co. (NYSE:LLY) shares plummeted 14%, marking their worst single-day performance since August 2000.

On the economic front, U.S. wholesale inventories increased by 0.1% month-over-month to $906.3 billion in June. U.S. unit labor costs in the nonfarm business sector rose 1.6% in the second quarter, while labor productivity surged by 2.4%.

Additionally, U.S. initial jobless claims climbed by 7,000 to 226,000 in the final week of July, exceeding market expectations of 221,000.

Insights From Analysts:

The Chief Equity Strategist at Bloomberg Intelligence, Gina Martin Adams, shared a chart that showed that the S&P 500 stocks that were missing earnings-per-share (EPS) estimates have underperformed by an average of 6% in 2025.

This is a sharp increase from the historical average of 2-4% since 2017, indicating heightened market sensitivity to earnings misses amid a second-quarter 2025 beat rate of over 80% as per Charles Schwab data.

In addition to a higher consensus beat rate during the second quarter, accompanied by steeper declines on missing earnings, Charles Schwab‘s research notes penned by Liz Ann Sonders and Kevin Gordon stated that “earnings bar is fairly low for the second quarter, setting companies up for a potential easy jump--but there will likely be more focus on forward guidance.”

Since the “bar is fairly low,” the surprises are higher on beat and negative during a miss.

“Ultimately, earnings will be the lens through which we can judge its resilience in the face of tariffs, higher rates, and a slowing labor market. So far, so good; but we think the bulk of the market’s focus will be on forward guidance as opposed to backward-looking results,” the Schwab note adds.

Talking about the appointment of Miran as a Fed Governor, Ed Yardeni of Yardeni Research said that it raises the possibility of at least three dissenters on the FOMC if the committee decides against a rate cut in September.

“These dissenters would likely argue that a weakening labor market justifies a rate cut. On the other hand, if the Fed does cut the federal funds rate (FFR), a new group of dissenters could emerge, objecting that a rate cut risks re-igniting inflation.”

According to Yardeni, the central debate is whether the recent weakness in the employment report stems from a weakening demand for labor or a shortage of workers. “It could very well be both simultaneously,” he noted.

He explained the demand-side argument: “Trump’s Tariff Turmoil (TTT) since April may have caused many employers to postpone their hiring plans until the impact on their businesses became clearer. With less uncertainty now, hiring should resume. In this scenario, the Fed should hold off on cutting the FFR, and the dissenters will disagree.”

Yardeni’s personal view is that the problem is primarily on the supply side of the labor market. “The labor force has stopped growing this year due to the Trump administration’s effective border closures and ongoing deportations,” he said. “In this case, the Fed should also refrain from cutting the FFR, as doing so would boost the demand for workers, worsening the labor shortage and putting upward pressure on wage and price inflation.”

See Also: How to Trade Futures

Upcoming Economic Data

Here's what investors will be keeping an eye on for the rest of the week;

• No economic data is scheduled to be released on Friday.
• On Saturday, Federal Reserve Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman will deliver a speech at 12:15 p.m. ET.

Stocks In Focus:

• Beauty Health Co. (NASDAQ:SKIN) jumped 19.5% after it reported a net income for the quarter of $19.7 million, a substantial increase from $0.2 million in the same quarter of the previous year.
• RealReal Inc. (NASDAQ:REAL) zoomed 38.11% after reporting a revenue of $165 million, marking a 14% year-over-year increase. The gross merchandise value and total revenue for the second quarter also saw a 14% annual rise. The company's consignment revenue grew by 14%, and direct revenue by 23% during this period.
• Twilio Inc. (NYSE:TWLO) dropped 12.66% after posting better-than-expected earnings for the second quarter, but issued weak earnings guidance for the third quarter.
• Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. (NASDAQ:TTWO) rose 4.46% after reporting better-than-expected first-quarter financial results and raising its FY25 guidance.
• American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings Inc. (NYSE:AXL) jumped 2.53% on Friday as analysts expect it to report earnings of 5 cents per share on revenue of $1.54 billion before the opening bell.
• Plains All American Pipeline LP (NASDAQ:PAA) was up 0.51% as it is expected to report earnings before the opening bell. Analysts estimate earnings of 31 cents per share on revenue of $13.53 billion.
• Under Armour Inc. (NYSE:UAA) advanced 2.41% as analysts expect it to report earnings of 3 cents per share on revenue of $1.13 billion before the opening bell.
• Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) linked stocks like Strategy Inc. (NASDAQ:MSTR) was down 0.50%, Coinbase Global Inc. (NASDAQ:COIN) rose 0.84%, Riot Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ:RIOT) advanced 0.35%, and MARA Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MARA) was 0.19% higher, as Trump signed two executive orders aimed at integrating digital assets into the U.S. financial system.
• Firefly Aerospace Inc. (NASDAQ:FLY) tumbled 8.88% following its recent IPO.

Commodities, Gold, And Global Equity Markets:

Crude oil futures were trading higher in the early New York session by 0.17% to hover around $63.99 per barrel.

Gold Spot US Dollar rose 0.14% to hover around $3,400.96 per ounce. Its last record high stood at $3,500.33 per ounce. The U.S. Dollar Index spot was lower by 0.14% at the 98.2670 level.

Asian markets fell on Friday, except  Japan's Nikkei 225 index. India's S&P BSE Sensex, Australia's ASX 200, China’s CSI 300, Hong Kong's Hang Seng, and South Korea's Kospi indices declined. European markets were mostly higher in early trade.

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