U.S. stock futures rise, with investors looking ahead to fresh inflation data and eyeing possibly easing geopolitical and trade tensions. The Federal Reserve’s preferred gauge of price gains is due out during the session, as policymakers remain wary of the potential impact of U.S. tariffs on the broader economy. Meanwhile, Nike (NYSE:NKE) shares spike in extended hours trading after the athletic apparel retailer unveils an upbeat forecast and outlines plans to shift some production out of China and into the United States.

1. Futures climb

U.S. stock futures pointed higher on Friday, suggesting a positive end to a week that has featured growing optimism among investors thanks to a resilient Israel-Iran ceasefire and tentative signs of cooling trade tensions.

By 03:33 ET (07:33 GMT), the Dow futures contract had risen by 149 points, or 0.3%, S&P 500 futures had gained 20 points, or 0.3%, and Nasdaq 100 futures had risen by 87 points, or 0.4%.

The main averages on Wall Street advanced in the prior session, buoyed by an ongoing truce between Israel and Iran which began earlier this week and has soothed concerns that the conflict would spill out across the Middle East.

Sentiment received an additional boost when a White House official said the U.S. had forged an agreement with China over how to expedite the shipment of rare earths materials that are crucial to a range of industries. Meanwhile, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt suggested that President Donald Trump could extend his 90-day reciprocal tariff pause beyond a self-imposed deadline early next month.

Reports that Trump was playing with the idea of possibly naming a replacement to Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell in September or October, potentially with someone more dovish on borrowing costs, also heightened expectations there will be a "shadow" central bank chair during the final months of Powell’s tenure. The already-beleaguered U.S. dollar received a further knock, falling to a near 3-1/2-year low and heading towards its largest weekly loss in more than a month.

"There have been two favorable macro developments in recent days, including the dovish pivot in the Fed narrative and the reduction in geopolitical risk," analysts at Vital Knowledge said in a note.

2. PCE ahead

On the economic calendar, the May reading of the personal consumption expenditures price index is set to be front and center.

Economists anticipate that the measure, which is the Fed’s preferred gauge of inflation, sped up slightly to 2.3% year-on-year and matched April’s pace on a monthly basis. The core metric, stripping out volatile items like food and fuel, is seen accelerating marginally at an annualized rate and equalling April’s month-over-month pace of 0.1%.

The trajectory of inflation remains one of the major question marks facing Fed policymakers as they decide on the path ahead for interest rates. The central bank has recently adopted a wait-and-see attitude to future policy changes, arguing that they are still waiting to see how Trump’s aggressive tariff agenda is impacting price gains.

So far, there has been little evidence that the duties have driven inflationary pressures upward, but analysts have noted that the Fed is likely waiting to see incoming data for June, July and August before feeling more confident that this benign trend will hold.

Still, some signs of headwinds could be emerging in the labor market, which, along with inflation, is a key focus for the Fed. Data this week showed that the number of Americans receiving jobless benefits rose to its highest since November 2021 in the week ended on June 14, possibly indicating that more people are staying unemployed for longer. That said, first-time claims and the four-week moving average both slipped.

3. Nike’s production plans

Nike has laid out plans to move more of its production operations out of China and to the United States, as the sportswear group looks to avoid higher possible costs from sweeping U.S. tariffs.

Speaking to analysts in a call after Nike posted better-than-anticipated fourth-quarter returns, executives flagged that Trump’s levies threaten to add roughly $1 billion to the company’s expenses. At the moment, around 16% of its shoes imported to the U.S. are derived from China, one of the major targets of Trump’s tariffs, CFO Matthew Friend noted.

Friend outlined plans to slash that number to a "high single-digit percentage range" by the end of May 2026.

Nike’s quarterly sales dipped 12% to $11.10 billion, but still came in above estimates due partially to the firm’s key running business finding its footing after heavy competition weighed on the unit for a string of quarters.

For its first quarter, Nike sees revenue sliding in the mid-single digits, but this was rosier than analysts’ estimates for a 7.3% decline.

Shares in Nike surged in extended hours trading.

4. Big bank stress test results due

The Fed is due to release the results from its annual big bank stress tests on Friday.

Analysts have predicted that the lenders are likely to pass their health check and display ample capital that can be deployed in a number of ways.

Employed by the Fed to determine how much cash banks need to have on hand in order to withstand a severe economic decline, this year’s stress tests are predicted to be less strenuous than prior iterations.

"[The stress tests] should give the ’green light’ to banks to deploy more capital for loans, deals, and buybacks. Many managements said that their view of excess capital should become more clear post-test," analysts at Wells Fargo said in a note to clients.

Introduced in the wake of the 2007-2009 financial crisis, the exercise has become a major part of capital planning for the 22 banks facing the tests, and a key to determining the amount of dividends that should be handed out to shareholders.

5. Oil inches up

Crude prices edged higher, but are on track for their steepest weekly falls for over two years as the Israel-Iran ceasefire saw traders remove a hefty risk premium from the market.

At 03:32 ET, Brent futures climbed 0.7% to $67.14 a barrel and U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose 0.7% to $65.69 per barrel.

Both benchmarks are on course for weekly losses of around 12%, heading for their steepest weekly decline since March 2023, and are now back at the levels they were at before the conflict between Israel and Iran began.

Small gains in prices later in the week resulted from U.S. government data showing crude oil and fuel inventories fell a week earlier, pointing to resilient demand in the world’s largest economy.