Dow Jones stock markets futures climbed Friday morning as investors prepared for the January CPI inflation report, and also a critical data release that could shape Federal Reserve policy decisions in the coming weeks. The gains in Dow Jones stock markets futures come after Thursday’s steep selloff driven by mounting AI disruption fears across multiple sectors, such as financial services, real estate, and software companies.
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Dow Jones Stock Markets Futures Today And CPI Volatility Risks
AI Disruption Fears Trigger Thursday Selloff
Dow Jones stock markets futures today are recovering from Thursday’s brutal session, when the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 669.42 points, or 1.34%, to close at 49,451.98. Stock market volatility intensified right now as AI disruption fears spread from software stocks to financial services and also real estate firms, creating an atmosphere of uncertainty that investors felt across Wall Street.
Growing concerns about artificial intelligence disrupting traditional business models triggered the selloff on Thursday. Jay Woods, chief market strategist at Freedom Capital Markets, stated:
“AI, which was the one thing that was driving these stocks to parabolic heights and to multiples that were getting extreme — not overwhelmingly extreme — now is the one thing that’s holding them back.”
Commercial real estate brokers took a particularly hard hit, with CBRE closing nearly 9% lower and Jones Lang LaSalle dropping 7.6%. Jade Rahmani, an analyst at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, said:
“We believe investors are rotating out of high-fee, labor-intensive business models viewed as potentially vulnerable to AI-driven disruption.”
CPI Report Takes Center Stage
At the time of writing, Dow Jones stock markets futures are showing signs of recovery as traders position themselves ahead of the CPI inflation report scheduled for release at 8:30 AM Eastern. The data will show whether inflation pressures are easing or if the Federal Reserve needs to maintain its current policy stance for an extended period.
Economists polled by Dow Jones expect the January report to show a 0.3% monthly increase for both headline and core CPI, which excludes food and energy prices. Goldman Sachs expects headline CPI to come in slightly lighter at 2.4%, which could add to hopes that inflation is moderating and provide some relief to Dow Jones stock markets futures.
Ross Mayfield, investment strategist at Baird, had this to say:
“CPI is a little bit less important now that we got the good jobs number, because it already allows the Fed to kind of pause for a substantial amount of time. If CPI came in hot, you’d have a couple of months of data to kind of get a sense of the trend before the Fed actually has to make a hard call.”
Defensive Sectors Gain Ground
Investors sought safety in defensive sectors during Thursday’s turbulence. Walmart and Coca-Cola shares rose 3.8% and 0.5%, respectively, during the session. Consumer staples and utilities led the gains among S&P 500 sectors, with consumer staples reaching a fresh record close.
The employment report that was earlier published this week indicated that the increase in nonfarm payroll was 130,000 in January and the unemployment rate decreased to 4.3%. Nevertheless, changes that reported zero job growth in the second half of 2025 cooled the optimism of the robust figures, which contributed to the general feeling of ambiguities in markets. The employment report led traders to reduce anticipations of short-term interest-rate reductions.
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The FedWatch tool of the CME Group shows that the likelihood of the Fed to stand its ground with its rates, has risen to close to 40 per cent of the day before as compared to 24.8 per cent, yet the markets continue to give a chance that the Fed will cut its rates at least once in the year.
The futures of Dow Jones stock markets currently are subjected to the impact of various factors, such as the future data on inflation, the fear of AI disruption, and the changes in expectations of the future Federal Reserve policy. The next pivotal indicator to the Dow Jones stock markets futures will probably be the CPI inflation report and the continuation of the recent volatility or the markets being able to stabilize in the next few weeks.