Stock futures eased on Friday suggesting a fall on Wall Street after the Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged on Thursday but flagged persistent price pressures, reducing the chances of a rate cut.

By 0916 GMT, September Dow Jones futures fell 0.1 percent, while S&P 500 futures eased 0.07 percent, and Nasdaq 100 futures dipped 0.05 percent.

U.S. indexes ended little changed on Thursday as the Fed's post-meeting statement acknowledged a recent easing in the rate of core consumer inflation, but insisted price pressures were the central bank's main policy concern.

Corporate earnings on Friday are light, leaving investors to focus on the macroeconomic calendar which boasts a key measure of inflation, as well as regional business activity and consumer sentiment.

Today sees plenty of minor economics announcements in the USA for traders to focus on with Chicago PMI and revised Michigan Sentiment probably the two highlights, wrote Scott Scrase, a trader with CMC Markets.

It seems unlikely though there are going to be any major moves ahead of the weekend so we could be in with the prospect of another rangebound choppy day ahead with the Dow trading around the 13,400 mark, he added.

U.S. interest rate futures show the odds of a rate cut from the Federal Reserve by the end of this year have fallen to about 20 percent, from over 50 percent two days ago.

On Thursday the Dow Jones industrial average (.DJI: Quote, Profile, Research) slipped 5.45 points, or 0.04 percent, to 13,422.28, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index (.SPX: Quote, Profile, Research) dipped 0.63 of a point, or 0.04 percent, to finish at 1,505.71. The Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC: Quote, Profile, Research) rose 3.02 points, or 0.12 percent, to 2,608.37.

The day's data includes the Chicago Purchasing Managers Index (PMI), which measures business activity in the auto-intensive Midwest, as well as the monthly Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) index, said to be the Fed's preferred measure of inflation.

The Reuters/University of Michigan index of consumer sentiment is also scheduled for release.

Dow jones Inflation