US stock futures rose on Friday as investors weighed President Trump's fresh round of punishing tariffs and breathed a relative sigh of relief over an inflation report that came in line with expectations.

Dow Jones Industrial Average futures (YM=F) rose roughly 0.5%, while those on the S&P 500 (ES=F) gained 0.4%. Contracts on the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 (NQ=F) also rose 0.4%, with the major US gauges coming off a third straight day of losses.

August's reading of the Personal Consumption Expenditures index, which contains the Fed-favored "core" PCE measure of inflation, rose as expected. The "core" PCE price index rose 2.9% year-over-year and 0.2% month-over-month in August, both coming in alongside what economists were expecting.

Meanwhile, investors are studying Trump's new threat to put a 100% levy on imports of branded drugs. The rate will apply to any pharma company that isn't already building a manufacturing plant in the US, the president said in a social media post late Thursday, but offered no further details. Shares of drugmakers in Europe and Asia faltered after the move.

Imports of heavy trucks and certain categories of furniture also face new heftier tariffs, Trump said, with the new duties to come into effect on Oct. 1 — less than a week away.

The trade salvo adds fresh uncertainty for markets already grappling with jitters about the AI boom, a high risk of US government shutdown, and signs of a resilient economy that have dented the case for more Federal Reserve rate cuts this year. The S&P 500 (^GSPC) is eyeing its first weekly loss this month after a Wall Street slump snapped a record-setting rally.

Meanwhile, Trump signed an order approving a deal to spin off TikTok's US operations from China's ByteDance, though Beijing still needs to sign off on the agreement. But the proposed $14 billion price tag was greeted with surprise on Wall Street, seen as undervaluing a global leader in social media estimate to potentially be worth $40 billion.

The US Bureau of Economic Analysis' Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) price index report Friday showed the Fed's preferred inflation gauge was in line with expectations for August.

The PCE price index climbed 0.3% in August, a slight uptick from the prior month's 0.2% rise but in line with the 0.3% estimated by economists tracked by Bloomberg. On an annual basis, the index rose 2.7% for the month, above the 2.6% increase seen in August 2024.

The \\"core\\" PCE index, which excludes volatile food and energy costs, was up 0.2% in August from the prior month, less than the 0.3% uptick in July. On an annual basis, the core PCE index was unchanged at 2.9%. Those figures were also on par with economists' estimates.

Costco (COST) stock dipped less than 1% in premarket trading on Friday, as the wholesaler's same-store sales figures didn't impress Wall Street.

In an earnings call on Thursday evening, CFO Gary Millerchip noted that value items and necessities remained strong for the retailer, but customers are being more deliberate about discretionary purchases, Yahoo Finance's Brooke DiPalma reported.

For the quarter, revenue came in at $86.16 billion, compared to expectations of $86.03 billion, while adjusted earnings per share were $5.87, higher than the forecast $5.82, per Bloomberg consensus estimates.

Overall, adjusted same-store sales increased 6.4% and were slightly higher than the expected 6.2% growth, though US same-store sales, which increased 6%, slightly underperformed the Street's estimates.

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President Trump’s plan to place a 100% tariff rate on US imports of patented drugs was greeted with a shrug by many investors, who expect exemptions for pharmas with US plants to soften the blow.

Bloomberg reports:

While Trump’s move threatens to double the cost of some imported treatments if construction on US manufacturing plants hasn’t begun by Oct. 1, many big drugmakers already have US plants or are building them.

“All big pharma companies have a US presence and almost all have announced large investments in the years to come,” Vontobel analyst Sibylle Bischofberger Frick said in a note. “Will that prevent their drugs from tariffs? In our view, yes.”

Merck & Co. (MRK), Novo Nordisk A/S (NVO) and Eli Lilly & Co. (LLY) are among firms that have started US builds since 2023, with construction sites in Delaware, North Carolina and Texas, respectively. The projects are aimed at anchoring supply chains inside US borders and supporting blockbuster medicines in cancer, diabetes and immunology.

Others, including Novartis AG (NVS, NOVN.SW) and Sanofi SA (SNY, SAN.PA), have announced large US investments, though it isn’t clear how far those projects have progressed.

Drugmakers’ shares were little changed in Europe on Friday, with a few, such as GSK Plc (GSK, GSK.L), even edging higher. Denmark’s Novo Nordisk (NOVO-B.CO) was an outlier, declining as much as 3.1%.

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Economic data: Personal income (August); Personal spending (August) University of Michigan sentiment (September); PCE price index (August); University of Michigan sentiment (September)

Earnings calendar: No notable earnings.

Here are some of the biggest stories you may have missed overnight and early this morning:

Why the US shutdown fight is different this time round

US targets chipmakers with new plan to curb imports: WSJ

Trump plans tariff push with 100% rate on drugs

Intel's comeback is fueled by the promise of more deals

'Daylight robbery': TikTok's $14B price tag stuns investors

Ex-FBI director Comey charged amid Trump retribution push

David Einhorn sounds warning on the AI spending splurge

Oil set for big weekly gain as pressure on Russia intensifies

Here's a look at some of the top stocks trending in premarket trading:

Eli Lilly (LLY) shares rose 1% in premarket trading on Friday after President Trump said he would impose tariffs on imported drugs.

Intel (INTC) stock rose 3% premarket after news came out that it was seeking investment not only from Apple (AAPL) but also from TSM (TSM).

Paccar (PCAR) stock rose 5% in premarket trading. The US company which supports, designs and manufactures heavy trucks is said to be one of the beneficiaries of President Trump's tariffs on trucks.

Dealmaking is the name of the game. Just ask Intel (INTC), writes Yahoo Finance's Hamza Shaban.

He reports in the takeaway from today's Morning Brief:

The unlikely Wall Street comeback kid received another boost this week as a potential deal with Apple (AAPL) has come to light. A legacy chipmaker left behind after the explosion of mobile computing and social platforms and, most recently, in the AI scramble, Intel is now in the earliest stages of an unexpected resurgence.

But it isn't a technological breakthrough that has reversed the company's fortunes. Instead, investors are flocking because of a succession of monumental deals: first from the federal government, then with Nvidia, and now, according to Bloomberg and others, chatter of a partnership with the iPhone maker — around five years after the two companies' very public break-up that even has its own Wikipedia entry. ...

Similar to other marquee American brands — think Boeing or Apple — Intel's importance is bigger than its market cap.

It's hard to quantify what it means for a ticker to hold national security interests — there isn't a line item for contributing to US technological sovereignty, or being a future component in an international AI arms race. Nonetheless, the value is there.

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Pharmaceutical stocks across Asia fell overnight Thursday following Trump's announcement that starting October 1, imports of branded drugs could face tariffs of up to 100%, unless manufacturers have already begun construction of production facilities in the United States.

Reuters reports:

Japan's Sumitomo Pharma (DNPUF) tumbling 4.3% and Australia's CSL (CSL.AX) plummeting to a six-year low.

In Japan, Otsuka Holdings (OTSKY) dropped 3.5%, and Daiichi Sankyo (DSNKY) lost 1.6%, although Takeda Pharmaceutical added 0.2% and Shionogi gained 1.3%.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Biotech Index (HSHKBIO.HK) was down about 1.4%.

India's pharmaceutical stock index fell 2.6%, with declines among all 20 members, even though its industry is dominated by generic drugs excluded from the tariffs. Heavyweight Sun Pharmaceutical Industries was down 3.4%.

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Oil prices rose overnight Thursday amid continued Ukrainian militry pressure on Russian production facilities. The commodity is looking to record its largest weekly gain in over three months.

Reuters reports:

Brent futures (BZ=F) climbed 15 cents, or 0.2%, to $69.57 a barrel by 0100 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (CL=F) crude futures gained 23 cents, or 0.4%, to $65.21 a barrel.

\\"Gains were supported by ongoing Ukrainian drone strikes targeting Russian oil infrastructure, NATO's warning to Russia it is ready to respond to future violations of its airspace and Russia's move to halt key fuel exports,\\" IG analyst Tony Sycamore said.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said on Thursday the country would introduce a partial ban on diesel exports until the end of the year and extend an existing ban on gasoline exports.

The fall in capacity to refine oil has pushed Moscow close to reducing crude output. Several Russian regions are facing shortages of certain grades of fuel.

Both benchmarks reached their highest levels since August 1 this week, driven by a surprise drop in U.S. weekly crude inventories in addition to Ukraine's attacks on Russia's energy infrastructure.

Read more here.