U.S. Stocks May See Further Upside In Early Trading

After ending the previous session mostly higher, stocks may see further upside in early trading on Friday. The major index futures are currently pointing to initial strength on Wall Street, with the Dow futures up by 92 points.

The markets may continue to benefit from a positive reaction to yesterday’s highly anticipated consumer price inflation data.

While the report showed the annual rate of consumer price inflation reached the highest level in nearly thirteen years, traders seem optimistic that the spike in prices will be transitory.

Federal Reserve officials have repeatedly downplayed the risks of prolonged inflation, leading to expectations that the central bank will not be in any hurry to tighten monetary policy.

The Federal Reserve is scheduled to hold its next monetary policy next week, which may still lead to some caution among investors.

Shortly after the start of trading, the University of Michigan is scheduled to release its preliminary report on consumer sentiment in the month of June. The consumer sentiment index is expected to rise to 84.0 in June after dropping to 82.9 in May.

Stocks fluctuated over the course of the trading session on Thursday but largely maintained a positive bias on the day before closing mostly higher. With the upward move, the S&P 500 reached a new record closing high.

The major averages all closed in positive territory, although the Dow inched up just 19.10 points or 0.1 percent to 34,466.24. The tech-heavy Nasdaq advanced 108.58 points or 0.8 percent to 14,020.33 and the S&P 500 rose 19.63 points or 0.5 percent to 4,239.18.

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in a mixed performance during trading on Friday. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index closed just below the unchanged line, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index climbed by 0.4 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets have all moved to the upside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index has advanced by 0.8 percent, the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index and the German DAX Index are both up by 0.6 percent.

In commodities trading, crude oil futures are slipping $0.10 to $70.19 a barrel after rising $0.33 to $70.29 a barrel on Thursday. Meanwhile, after inching up $0.90 to $1,896.40 an ounce in the previous session, gold futures are falling $6.20 to $1,890.20 an ounce.

On the currency front, the U.S. dollar is trading at 109.59 yen versus the 109.33 yen it fetched at the close of New York trading on Thursday. Against the euro, the dollar is valued at $1.2134 compared to yesterday’s $1.2170.