Stock Futures Higher as Cool PPI Print Buoys Sentiment — 2nd Update

By Joe StonorStock futures rose after cooler-than-expected U.S. inflation data encouraged investors after rocky early trade, as the fallout from Nvidia's leadership change continued to hang over markets.Futures for the main U.S. indexes had yo-yoed early Friday as investors digested the ousting of Nvidia chief Jensen Huang and volatile oil prices. But a cool U.S. producer-price index print lifted sentiment, pushing stock futures into the green. PPI was 0.3% in October, below the 0.4% expected by economists polled by The Wall Street Journal. Contracts tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 turned positive, both climbing by more than 0.5%. Nasdaq futures rose 0.4% as investors cautiously looked to buy the Nvidia dip, pushing the stock around 2% higher premarket.In Asia, a rally in tech stocks overnight was snuffed out before markets closed, reversing into the red. SoftBank Group closed over 5% lower in Tokyo, while South Korean chip giants also weakened. Stock indexes fell across the continent, including in Hong Kong and Shanghai. European stocks were broadly higher, with the continent-wide Stoxx 600 adding 0.2% after closing at a record high Thursday.In the U.S., a severe Microsoft outage continued into Friday, with the software giant struggling to find a fix. Microsoft shares pared earlier losses to trade 1% lower premarket.Treasurys were little moved by the inflation print. Two-year Treasury yields stabilized after Thursday's selloff, hovering around 4.855%. Ten-year yields rose above 5.120%, while 30-year yields rose toward 5.500%. Expectations for a December Federal Reserve rate hike remained elevated after the PPI print, with investors pricing an 88% likelihood for a quarter-point hike, according to LSEG.Oil prices rose even after the International Energy Agency said the global oil market would return to a surplus in the final quarter of the year--the first surplus since the start of the U.S.-Iran war. Benchmark Brent crude contracts rose over 1% to trade close to $97 a barrel. The increase follows sharp gains in the last session, when oil contracts rallied after President Trump said the U.S. no longer needed an agreement with Iran.Investors are again on yen intervention watch after Japan's finance minister issued a fresh warning against speculative foreign-exchange moves. The yen weakened against the U.S. dollar, with the dollar trading close to multimonth highs.Bitcoin fell sharply, pulling back by over 3% to trade just above $69,000--the lowest level since mid-August. Gold contracts were steady at around $3,900 a troy ounce.Write to Joe Stonor at [email protected]