US equity futures showed modest gains early Friday as investors reacted to a widespread Microsoft outage and awaited key inflation data. S&P 500 Index futures climbed 0.3%, while Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.1% by 8:14 a.m. in New York.
The global software outage at Microsoft Corp. disrupted services like Outlook and Copilot, adding uncertainty to market sentiment. The incident came amid ongoing developments in the AI trade, another factor influencing investor decisions.
Attention was also focused on the latest producer price index report, seen as a critical gauge for US inflation trends. The data could provide further clues about the Federal Reserve's policy direction in the coming months.