MARKET SNAPSHOT: Stock Futures In Holding Pattern, Keeping Nasdaq On Pace For Weekly Drop

Housing starts and consumer sentiment data on tap

U.S. stock futures indicated a small rise at the open, keeping a key technology gauge on track for a weekly loss, as investors looked ahead to housing-starts and consumer sentiment data.

Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose 23 points to 21,344, while S&P 500 futures added 2.4 points to 2,434.75. Nasdaq-100 futures gained 6.75 points to 5,715.75.

The market could see increased volatility during the session as it's a quadruple witching day, which means the simultaneous expiry of stock index futures, stock index options, stock options and single stock futures.

Wall Street stocks slipped Thursday (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-stocks-poised-to-slide-as-fed-signals-full-steam-ahead-on-ending-easy-money-2017-06-15), driven by yet another decline for big-cap technology names such as Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN), though indexes bounced off lows. The Dow industrials and S&P 500 suffered modest declines, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.5%.

Opinion:Equity-allocation indicator flashes bear-market warning (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/equity-allocation-indicator-flashes-bear-market-warning-2017-06-16)

Data, Fed speaker on tap: Attention on Friday will turn to economic data, with a reading on U.S. housing starts for May due at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time, along with building permits for the same month. At 10 a.m., the University of Michigan June consumer sentiment survey will be released.

Dallas Federal Reserve President Rob Kaplan will appear in a moderated question-and-answer session at the Park Cities Rotary Club in Dallas at 12:45 p.m. Eastern.

Investors will likely be parsing those comments for clues about the recent Fed meeting, which resulted in an interest-rate rise, a pledge to start easing the throttle on its stimulus program and indication that another rate hike is in the pipeline.

Need to know:Trust in tech stocks and dozens of other growth names -- here's why (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/trust-in-tech-stocks-and-dozens-of-other-growth-names-heres-why-2017-06-16)

"Investors had already been digesting the fact that, despite recent weak U.S. data, the U.S. Federal Reserve appeared unconcerned about a slowdown in the U.S. economy," said Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK, in a note.

"These two factors combined, along with further weakness in the U.S. tech sector, played into the risk averse mood amongst equity investors as they began to mull the possibility of tighter policy, not only from the U.S. Federal Reserve, but also the Bank of England, not to mention the prospect of a discussion on tapering from the European Central Bank before the end of the year," he said.

For the week, the Nasdaq is poised to drop 0.7%, with the S&P 500 flat and the DJIA up 0.4%.

Opinion:The smart money is refusing to buy big tech stocks now (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-smart-money-is-refusing-to-buy-big-tech-stocks-now-2017-06-15)

Stocks to watch:Adamis Pharmaceuticals Corp.(ADMP) soared 53% on new the company's rival to Mylan's EpiPen (MYL) has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/adamis-pharma-stock-skyrockets-after-rival-epipen-product-gets-fda-approval-2017-06-15).

Other markets: Gains for the dollar slowed some, with the ICE U.S. Dollar Index , which tracks the buck against a basket of six rivals, down to 97.343, compared with 97.484 in late North American trade on Thursday.

However, it charged to Yen111.37 against the Japanese yen, from Yen110.93 late Thursday in North America. Yen weakness (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/yen-weakens-after-boj-rate-call-dollar-pulls-back-slightly-2017-06-16)came after the Bank of Japan left key rates and its own stimulus policy unchanged on Friday.

Asian stocks had a mixed session while European stocks were trading higher.

Meanwhile, U.S. oil prices jumped 1%, but were still set for a weekly loss of 2% (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/oil-set-to-add-to-streak-of-weekly-losses-2017-06-16). Concerns over a global supply glut, chiefly from the U.S. has been cutting into oil prices. Investors will get key U.S. oil-rig data later from Baker Hughes Inc. (BHI)

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 16, 2017 07:34 ET (11:34 GMT)