US stock futures moved higher on Friday, led by the NASDAQ 100, as falling oil prices eased some concerns about inflation after a volatile week for financial markets.

At 7:00 a.m. ET, NASDAQ 100 E-minis rose 166.25 points, or 0.56%. S&P 500 E-minis gained 21.5 points, or 0.13%, while Dow E-minis added 83 points, or 0.16%.

The gains followed Thursday's rebound, when major US indexes recovered part of the losses triggered by the Federal Reserve's latest interest rate increase.

Oil Prices Fall as Inflation Concerns Ease

Oil prices fell for a third straight session on Friday. Brent crude and US West Texas Intermediate futures dropped nearly 2% each, even as fresh tensions between Saudi Arabia and Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis kept supply risks in focus.

Lower crude prices helped reduce some pressure on inflation expectations. Energy costs have remained a major concern for investors because higher fuel and transport expenses can feed into consumer prices.

Oil had already weakened on Thursday. US crude closed 0.51% lower at USD 101.91 per barrel, while Brent fell 0.95% to USD 104.82. Reports that Saudi Arabia would make more crude cargoes available to Asian refiners also eased concerns about near-term supply.

Treasury yields also retreated. The 10-year US Treasury yield fell more than seven basis points to 4.93% on Thursday after moving above 5% following the Federal Reserve's rate decision.

Tech Stocks Support the Wall Street Recovery

Technology stocks remained a key source of strength. NVIDIA rose about 1% in premarket trading on Friday, while Alphabet gained around 2%. Apple slipped 0.2%.

On Thursday, NVIDIA and Amazon gained more than 2% each, while Microsoft advanced 1.5%. Intel rose 7%, and Qualcomm added about 2%.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended Thursday up 316.14 points, or 0.61%, at 51,778.04. The S&P 500 climbed 1.14% to 7,637.76, while the NASDAQ Composite rose 1.69% to 26,418.30.

Investors also continued to assess the outlook for artificial intelligence spending after several industry executives called for slower development of advanced AI systems.

Goldman Sachs chief US equity strategist Ben Snider said concerns had emerged that strong corporate earnings could represent an ‘earnings bubble.’ However, he wrote that the firm's base case expects S&P 500 earnings growth to ‘decelerate, not collapse’ in coming years.

Fund Flows Show Mixed Investor Positioning

Investor flows presented a mixed picture. Bank of America data showed investors added a net USD 79.3 billion to stocks in the week through Wednesday, including USD 63.8 billion directed toward US equities.

However, separate LSEG Lipper data showed global equity funds recorded USD 23.21 billion in net withdrawals in the week through September 16, the largest weekly outflow in nine months. US equity funds recorded USD 31.44 billion in withdrawals.

Technology, financial and consumer discretionary funds still attracted new money, with combined sector inflows helping equity sector funds record their strongest weekly demand in six weeks.

Meanwhile, market breadth remained uneven. Just over half of S&P 500 companies were trading below their 200-day moving averages, showing that gains in major indexes remained concentrated in a smaller group of stocks.

Trading activity could also increase on Friday because of ‘triple witching,’ the quarterly expiry of stock options, index options and futures contracts.

Also Read: US Stocks Set for Higher Open as Tech Shares Rise and Oil Prices Retreat