Jan 16 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures climbed on Friday as chipmakers returned to the driver's seat in a volatile week that also marked the start of the fourth-quarter earnings season.
Memory chipmakers led the gains, with Micron (MU.O), Western Digital (WDC.O), Seagate Technology (STX.O), and SanDisk (SNDK.O), up between 3.8% and 6%, building on their searing rallies in 2025.
The iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX.O), gained 1.9% on Friday, lifting its near 12% rally so far this year that has handily beaten the Nasdaq 100's (.NDX), 1.2% rise, underscoring investor faith in AI-riven chip demand even as money shifts out of some heavyweight tech names into more undervalued areas such as small caps, materials and industrial stocks.
At 7:04 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were up 10 points, or 0.02%, S&P 500 E-minis were up 12.25 points, or 0.18%, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 130.5 points, or 0.51%.
WALL ST HEADED FOR MODEST WEEKLY LOSSES
U.S. stocks were limping toward modest weekly losses, even after the S&P 500 and the Dow punched out fresh record closes on Monday. The S&P now hovering just about 60 points shy of the 7,000 milestone - a mark that analysts have pegged as a potential pocket of technical resistance.
This week's upside sputtered, as worries over the fallout of a proposed one-year cap on credit card interest rates at 10% weighed on lenders' shares despite strong quarterly showings from big U.S. banks.
The financial sector (.SPSY), was headed toward its worst week since October.
Rekindled concerns on threats to the Federal Reserve's independence added another layer of uncertainty after Chair Jerome Powell said on Sunday that the Justice Department had opened a criminal investigation into him.
A run of key economic data this week reinforced bets for a prolonged rate pause by the Fed. Traders are betting that the central bank will hold rates steady in this month's meeting and have fully priced in a quarter-point rate cut only in July, LSEG data showed.
"The S&P 500 appears to be sustaining its upward trend in a cautious manner," said Linh Tran, senior market analyst at XS.com.
"The most plausible scenario remains sideways movement with a cautious upward bias. Any further upside will likely depend more on genuine corporate earnings growth."
Remarks from Fed governors Michelle Bowman and Philip Jefferson later in the day will offer clues on voting members' thinking before the U.S. central bank enters its blackout period ahead of its January 27-28 policy meeting.
Among other stocks, J.B. Hunt Transport Services (JBHT.O), dropped nearly 5% after the U.S. trucking firm reported a dip in quarterly revenue from a year ago.
PNC Financial(PNC.N), rose 2.8% after beating fourth-quarter revenue estimates.
U.S. industrial production data for December is due later in the day.
Markets will remain shut on Monday on account of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, but the earnings season will gather steam next week with results due from the likes of Netflix (NFLX.O), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N), and Intel (INTC.O).
Reporting by Medha Singh and Pranav Kashyap in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli and Maju Samuel
