US stock futures fell sharply on Friday, set to add to Wall Street's steepest sell-off in over a month as ebbing faith in a December interest-rate cut puts pressure on riskier assets like Big Techs.

Dow Jones Industrial Average futures (YM=F) slid roughly 0.6%, while those on the S&P 500 (ES=F) dropped 0.8%. Contracts on the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 (NQ=F) tumbled 1.2%

Another sea of red awaits stocks after Thursday's bruising session, which saw the major indexes log their steepest one-day declines in over a month.

Tech is again in the forefront, as AI concerns drive an exodus to less hotly valued sectors. Tesla (TSLA) shares fell 4% in premarket to break below $400, on the heels of its worst day since July. Nvidia (NVDA), which also tanked, moved 3% lower.

The mood is gloomy as worries grow that the Federal Reserve will slow its pace of policy easing, given the increasingly hawkish tone taken by its officials. Traders now see less than 50% odds of a quarter-point rate cut next month, down from about 95% a month ago.

Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari flagged the risk of a surprise rise in next week's inflation report as he became the latest to lose appetite for rate cuts. Policymakers lack insight into price pressures as well as the jobs market after the record six-week federal shutdown. Questions still remain as to what data will end up being released — and in what form it will be unveiled — now that the government has reopened.

In a nod to price pressures, President Trump is preparing to make substantial cuts to tariffs to bring down high food costs, a concern for voters in recent state and local elections. Several trade deals with Argentina, Brazil and other Latin American countries also aim to make the likes of bananas and coffee more affordable.

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Warner Bros (WBD) stock rose 3% before in premarket trading on Friday after news that Paramount (PSKY), Comcast (CMCSA) and Netflix (NFLX) were preparing bids for the entertainment group.

Whirlpool (WHR) stock rose 3% before the bell on Friday following news that Investor David Tepper’s Appaloosa Management had purchased 5.2 million shares of the appliance maker.

Applied Materials (AMAT) stock fell 5% in premarket trading on Friday after the chipmaker reported a slowdown in revenue. The companies first quarter forecast was more upbeat.

Bloomberg reports:

Bitcoin (BTC-USD) fell further below the $100,000 mark as a bout of risk aversion sweeping across markets saw investors pull nearly $900 million from funds investing in the token.

The largest digital-asset sank as much as 2.8% to below $96,000 on Friday before paring losses, leaving it more than 20% below a record high reached in early October.

The crypto market remains under strain after $19 billion in liquidations on Oct. 10 in turn erased over $1 trillion from the total market value of all cryptocurrencies, CoinGecko data shows. The liquidations keep coming, with more than $1 billion worth of leveraged crypto bets wiped out in the past 24 hours, according to CoinGlass data.

Meanwhile, exchange-traded funds investing in bitcoin saw net outflows of about $870 million on Thursday, the second-largest daily withdrawal since their debut.

Read more here.

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.

Read more here.