Futures Point To Broadly Higher Open For Wall Street

Initial cues from the U.S. Futures Index suggest that Wall Street might open broadly higher on Friday. Geopolitical situations in the Middle East continue to impact investor sentiments.

Asian shares finished higher, while European shares are trading broadly up.

In the Asian trading hours, oil prices fell slightly on Friday. Brent crude futures dipped 0.4 percent to $95.09 a barrel.

Gold headed for a modest weekly gain. Spot gold was down 0.2 percent at $4,466.31 an ounce. U.S. gold futures slipped 0.7 percent to $4,510.39 an ounce.

As of 7.50 am ET, the Dow futures were losing 30.00 points, the S&P 500 futures were up 7.25 points and the Nasdaq 100 futures were adding 159.00 points.

The U.S. major averages remained firmly positive on Thursday. The Dow jumped 624.16 points or 1.2 percent to 53,686.11, the Nasdaq surged 366.23 points or 1.4 percent to 26,584.06 and the S&P 500 shot up 81.11 points or 1.1 percent to 7,747.71.

On the economic front, the Employment Situation for August will be issued at 8.30 am ET. The consensus for non-farm payrolls is 55,000,while it was down 23,000 in the prior month. The unemployment rate is expected to be up 4.2 percent, while it was up 4.1 percent in the prior month. The Private Payrolls month over month is expected to be up 53,000, while it was up 30,000 in the prior month.

Average Hourly Earnings month over month is expected to be up 0.3 percent, while it was up 0.1 percent in the prior month. Average workweek is projected to be 34.3 hours, in line with the prior month.

The Baker Hughes Rig Count for the week is scheduled at 1.00 pm ET. In the prior week, the North America Rig count was 799, while it was up 588.

Asian stocks closed higher on Friday. China’s Shanghai Composite index dropped 0.30 percent to 3,930.12. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index surged 1.74 percent to 25,650.87.

Japanese markets rose sharply. The Nikkei average jumped 1.26 percent to 65,020.94. The broader Topix index finished marginally higher at 4,103.23.

Australian markets ended slightly lower as strong second quarter GDP data. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 slipped 0.16 percent to 9,005.90. The broader All Ordinaries index ended little changed at 9,196.

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