The New York Stock Exchange is set to open higher on Friday morning after above-expectations results from Microsoft and Alphabet, while inflation trends tend to reassure.

Half an hour before the opening, futures on the main New York indices were up between 0.1% and 1%, suggesting a green start to the session.

In line with expectations, the PCE consumer price index slowed in March, reviving hopes of a Fed rate cut in September.

The Commerce Department reported that the core PCE inflation index, which is closely watched by the Federal Reserve (Fed), decelerated to 0.3% last month on a sequential basis, following a 0.5% increase in February.

Year-on-year, its increase slowed to 2.8%, from 2.9% in February.

According to CME Group's Fedwatch barometer, traders now expect the Fed to cut rates by 25 basis points in September, with a probability of almost 46%.

On the bond market, the yield on ten-year Treasuries stood at 4.68%, up some three basis points on the six-month highs reached the previous day.

The stock market was also buoyed by the solid results and outlook published by two technology giants, auguring well for the sector and investment in the cloud.

Microsoft jumped almost 4% in pre-market trading after posting a much better-than-expected first-quarter net profit, driven by the cloud and a 31% jump in Azure sales.

Alphabet, Google's parent company, soared 12% in pre-opening trading, with the market celebrating better-than-expected accounts, but above all the payment of the first dividend in the group's history and the announcement of a massive share buyback plan.

These solid performances should enable all the 'Magnificent Seven' - including Nvidia and Amazon - to get back on the right track.

Among the other leading stocks, Intel is likely to be punished by 8% at the opening after missing its first-quarter targets, notably due to disappointing activity in servers.

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