Futures Pointing To Slightly Higher Open On Wall Street

Following the notable rebound seen in the previous session, stocks may see further upside in early trading on Friday. The major index futures are currently pointing to a slightly higher open for the markets, with the S&P 500 futures up by 0.1 percent.

Early buying interest may be generated in reaction to a sharp increase by shares of Oracle (ORCL), as the software giant is surging by more than 4 percent in pre-market trading.

The jump by Oracle comes after a memo from TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew said the company has agreed to sell its U.S. operations to a joint venture that includes Oracle and private equity firm Silver Lake.

Nvidia (NVDA) is also seeing notable pre-market strength after a report from Reuters said the Trump administration has launched a review that could result in the first shipments of the company’s second-most powerful AI chips to China.

Shars of Micron Technology (MU) may also see further upside after helping lead the markets higher on Thursday on better than expected quarterly results and blowout guidance.

On the U.S. economic front, the National Association of Realtor is scheduled to release its report on existing home sales in the month of November shortly after the start of trading.

Existing home sales are expected to increase to an annual rate of 4.15 million in November from a rate of 4.10 million in October.

The University of Michigan is also due to release its revised reading on consumer sentiment in the month of December.

The consumer sentiment index for December is expected to be upwardly revised to 53.4 from a preliminary reading of 53.3, which was up from 51.0 in November.

After coming under considerable selling pressure over the course of the previous session, stocks showed a strong move back to the upside during trading on Thursday. The tech-heavy Nasdaq led the rebound by the major averages.

The Nasdaq jumped 313.04 points or 1.4 percent to 23,006.36 and the S&P 500 advanced 53.33 points or 0.8 percent to 6,774.76, while the narrower Dow fluctuated before closing up 65.88 points or 0.1 percent at 47,951.85.

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly higher during trading on Friday. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index shot up by 1.0 percent, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index climbed by 0.8 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets are narrowly mixed on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index is down by 0.1 percent, the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index is just below the unchanged line and the German DAX Index is down by 0.1 percent.

In commodities trading, crude oil futures are climbing $0.38 to $56.53 a barrel after rising $0.21 to $56.15 a barrel on Thursday. Meanwhile, after slipping $9.40 to $4,364.50 ounce in the previous session, gold futures are inching up $1 to $4,365.50 an ounce.

On the currency front, the U.S. dollar is trading at 157.31 yen versus the 155.56 yen it fetched at the close of New York trading on Thursday. Against the euro, the dollar is valued at $1.1714 compared to yesterday’s $1.1721.

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