US stock futures declined at the beginning of the week's trading, ahead of the announcement of major technology companies' earnings and the US Federal Reserve's expected decision regarding interest rates.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 86 points, or 0.2%, and S&P 500 and Nasdaq futures fell by 0.2% and 0.3%, respectively.
US indices achieved weekly gains of 1% for the S&P 500, 0.9% for the Nasdaq index, and 0.7% for the DOW Jones.
Indices received a boost this week from encouraging economic data. More positive numbers came on Friday.
Data released on Friday, January 26, showed that the core personal consumption expenditures price index for December came in line with economists’ expectations.
On a monthly basis, but it was slightly lower than expected on an annual basis. It is the preferred measure of inflation for the Federal Reserve, which sets monetary policy.
Friday's personal consumption expenditures reading came one day after GDP data revealed higher-than-expected economic growth in the fourth quarter. This raised investors' hopes that the economy had avoided a deep recession.
This week marks the busiest week of earnings season. Big tech names Microsoft, Apple, Meta, Amazon and Alphabet - part of the core group of big tech companies that led last year's rally - will publish their results.
