Futures Suggests Wall Street To Open Positive

Personal Income and Outlays for April, Retail Inventories for April as well as Wholesale Inventories might be the major focus on Friday.

Asian shares finished mixed on the day, while European shares are trading higher.

Initial cues from the U.S. Futures Index suggest that Wall Street might open positive.

As of 7.55 am ET, the Dow futures were adding 158.00 points, the S&P 500 futures were progressing 14.25 points and the Nasdaq 100 futures were up 49.25 points.

The U.S. major indices finished broadly higher. The tech-heavy Nasdaq ended the day down 1.72 points or less than a tenth of a percent at 13,736.28, the Dow rose 141.59 points or 0.4 percent to 34,464.64 and the S&P 500 inched up 4.89 points or 0.1 percent to 4,200.88.

On the economic front, International Trade in Goods (Advance) for April will be published at 8.30 am ET. The consensus is for a decline of $91 billion, while it was down $90.6 billion in the prior month.

The Commerce Department’s Personal Income and Outlays for April will be released at 8.30 am ET. The consensus for Personal Income is expected to be down 14.8 percent, while it was up 21.1 percent in March. The Personal Consumption Expenditure for April is expected to be up 0.6 percent, while it was up 4.2 percent in the prior month.

Retail Inventories (Advance) for April is scheduled at 8.30 am ET. In the prior month, the inventories were down 1.4 percent.

The Commerce Department’s Wholesale Inventories (Advance) for April will be published at 8.30 am ET. In the prior month, the consensus is for growth of 1.2 percent, while it was up 1.4 percent in March.

Market News International’s Chicago PMI for May will be released at 9.45 am ET. The consensus is for 70.0, while it was up 72.1 in the prior month.

The University of Michigan’s Consumer Sentiment for May will be issued at 10.00 am ET. The consensus is for 83.0, while it was up 82.8 in the previous month.

Baker Hughes Rig Count for the week is expected at 1.00 pm ET. In the prior week, the North American rig count was 513, while the U.S. rig count was 455.

Asian stocks ended Friday’s session on a mixed note. Chinese shares fell slightly amid a strong yuan and lingering worries about policy tightening.

China’s Shanghai Composite index dipped 8.07 points, or 0.22 percent, to 3,600.78 while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index ended marginally higher at 29,124.41.

Japanese shares rallied. The Nikkei average jumped 600.40 points, or 2.10 percent, to 29,149.41, closing above the 29,000 level for the first time since May 10. The broader Topix index closed 1.91 percent higher at 1,947.44.

The unemployment rate in Japan came in at a seasonally adjusted 2.8 percent in April.
Australian markets advanced. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index climbed 84.60 points, or 1.19 percent, to 7,179.50 even as Victoria entered a seven-day lockdown over concerns about a highly infectious variant of COVID-19. The broader All Ordinaries index ended up 80 points, or 1.09 percent, at 7,424.

European shares are trading higher. Among the major indexes in the region, the CAC 40 Index of France is progressing 41.84 points or 0.65 percent. The German DAX is adding 87.98 points or 0.57 percent, the U.K. FTSE 100 Index is gaining 19.75 points or 0.28 percent.

The Swiss Market Index is adding 55.73 points or 0.49 percent.

The Euro Stoxx 50 Index, which is a compilation of 50 blue chip stocks across the euro area, is progressing 0.58 percent.

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