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Dell falls after forecasting drop in FY26 gross margin

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HP falls on downbeat quarterly profit forecast

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January PCE price index rises 2.5%

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Futures up: Dow 0.46%, S&P 500 0.25%, Nasdaq 0.05%

(Updates to before markets open)

By Johann M Cherian and Sukriti Gupta

Feb 28 (Reuters) -

The benchmark S&P 500 and the Dow were set to open higher on

Friday after data showed inflation rose as expected in January,

while concerns that U.S. President Donald Trump's policies could

further fuel price pressures kept investors cautious.

At 8:54 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were up 201

points, or 0.46%, S&P 500 E-minis were up 14.75 points,

or 0.25% and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 10 points, or

0.05%.

A

Commerce Department report

showed the Personal Consumption Expenditures Price index

rose 2.5% in January on an annual basis, as expected by

economists polled by Reuters. Excluding volatile items such as

food and energy, the index rose 2.6% on an annual basis in the

previous month, also in line with estimates.

Megacaps such as Alphabet and Meta

edged up 0.2% and 0.5%, respectively, while rate-sensitive banks

such as JPMorgan Chase & Co ( JPM ) rose 1% and Bank of America ( BAC )

inched up 0.9% in premarket trading.

Traders see the Fed lowering borrowing costs by 61 basis

points, little changed from before the report, according to data

compiled by LSEG. Investors will assess comments from Chicago

Fed President Austan Goolsbee later in the day.

"The good news is that there wasn't an upside surprise,"

said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B. Riley Wealth.

"But the bad news is we sit here in a market that's

(fallen) over the last five days and there's still an ongoing

concern about the fire hose of policy proposals out there that

have investors on the backside."

Friday's report is important for investors trying to gauge

the central bank's next policy move, after policymakers

reiterated a hawkish stance on interest rates. The fear has been

that the new Donald Trump administration's policies, especially

trade restrictions, could lead to a rise in domestic inflation.

Multiple recent reports suggesting a stalling economy and

concerns that tech companies such as Nvidia ( NVDA ) and

Microsoft ( MSFT ) might be overspending on

artificial-intelligence infrastructure have put Wall Street's

main indexes on track for monthly declines.

The benchmark S&P 500 logged declines in five of the

past six sessions and is set for its biggest one-month drop

since April 2024. The tech-heavy Nasdaq is down more

than 8% from its all-time high and is headed for its steepest

one-month fall since September 2023.

Nvidia ( NVDA ) fell 1.7% after an 8.5% slide in the previous

session, which saw $274 billion of its market value evaporate

after the chip giant's weaker-than-expected quarterly gross

margin forecast overshadowed an upbeat revenue outlook.

Dell lost 7.6% as the PC maker forecast a decline

in its adjusted gross margin rate for fiscal 2026, hit by higher

building costs for AI servers.

Peer HP Inc ( HPQ ) fell 3.8% after its quarterly profit

forecasts missed expectations.

Trump's latest threat to slap an extra 10% duty on imports

from China hit U.S.-listed China stocks such as Alibaba

and Xpeng, which fell 3.5% and 7.1%, respectively.

Trump also said his proposed 25% tariffs on Mexican and

Canadian goods would take effect on Tuesday.

Crypto stocks such as MicroStrategy ( MSTR ) and Coinbase

lost 1% each tracking bitcoin prices, which fell

below $80,000.