U.S. stocks are gearing up for a nervy as index futures were seen hugging the flat line. Uncertainty, which is one of the biggest enemies of the market, has intensified on all fronts. The Federal Reserve hasn’t committed to a timeframe for starting rate cuts despite the recent soft growth data and slowing inflationary measures. Things look murky on the geopolitical front. President Joe Biden‘s fate is unknown yet as the calls for him to step down intensify. And the Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s extreme right-wing agenda has kept traders on the tenterhook. On top of these, both candidates have talked tough regarding their stances on China. The tech sector could react to a massive service outage reported by Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT) that disrupted operations of banks, airlines, broadcasters, stock exchanges, among others worldwide, and Netflix, Inc.’s (NASDAQ:NFLX) earnings San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly, who spoke after the market close on Thursday, chose to tread a cautious line. While acknowledging that recent inflation is encouraging, she said “We’re not there yet.” A couple of more Fed officials will speak on Thursday before the Fed blackout period starts. Futures Performance (+/-) Nasdaq 100 -0.08% S&P 500 -0.02% Dow -0.19% R2K +0.03% Cues From Last Session: U.S. stocks closed notably lower on Thursday as the downward momentum carried over into the session amid the release of mixed economic data and fairly dovish comments from Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee. Weekly jobless claims rose much more than expected, while regional manufacturing activity accelerated more than expected in July and the Conference Board’s leading economic index fell by less than expected in June. The major indices opened mixed but turned uniformly higher in early trading as traders made sense of the economic data. Subsequently, selling pressure ...