US stock futures fell on Friday after Wall Street's sharpest sell-off in over a month, as investors jumped out of techs amid ebbing faith in a December interest-rate cut.

Dow Jones Industrial Average futures (YM=F) shed 0.1%, while those on the S&P 500 (ES=F) dropped 0.3%. Contracts on the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 (NQ=F) sank 0.5%.

Stocks are poised to build on Thursday's bruising session, which saw the major indexes log their steepest one-day declines in over a month. The Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) led those declines as heavyweights Nvidia (NVDA), Broadcom (AVGO), and Tesla (TSLA) all tanked.

Uncertainty around the Federal Reserve’s next policy move has begun to weigh on sentiment, as a jubilant mood from the end of the six-week government shutdown prompts fresh questions about the state of the US economy. Traders now see a roughly 52% chance of a quarter-point rate cut in December, down sharply from nearly 63% just a day earlier and more than 95% a month ago.

In recent days, a wave of Fed officials have delivered more hawkish commentary. Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis President Neel Kashkari said recent data has shown "more of the same" resilience in the economy, suggesting he could view a rate hold as the best option. He said, however, that "I can make a case" for either option.

Questions remain as to what data will end up being released — and in what form it will be unveiled — now that the government is reopen. While markets had expected the restart of key releases, the White House has said that "all of that economic data released will be permanently impaired."

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Gold (GC=F) prices have been boosted after a month of declines, as uncertainty surrounding data and the aftermath of the government shutdown has led investors to the haven asset.

Bloomberg reports:

Bullion was trading at nearly $4,190 an ounce, heading for a weekly gain of around 5% and recouping most of the losses from the previous session. Expectations of another US rate cut — a tailwind for gold, which doesn’t pay interest — lost some steam throughout the week as Federal Reserve officials showed little conviction for reducing the cost of borrowing.

Still, investors are divided on whether a flood of data when Washington returns from its longest-ever shutdown will show enough weakness to justify a rate cut. Gold is up nearly 60% this year and remains on target for its best annual performance since 1979. Central banks have stepped up purchases, seeking a store of value and asset diversification, while investors have piled into the metal as a hedge against growing fiscal unease in some of the world’s biggest economies.

Bullion continues to find support from the prospect of the Fed injecting further liquidity into the financial system. The US central bank “won’t have to wait long” before purchasing assets to sustain desired liquidity levels, Roberto Perli, who runs the System Open Market Account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, said this week.

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