Futures Pointing To Mixed Open On Wall Street

Following the upward move seen in the previous session, the major U.S. stock futures are currently pointing to a mixed open for the markets on Friday.

While the Nasdaq futures are down by 34 points, the Dow futures are up by 77 points and the S&P 500 futures are up by 3.25 points.

Profit taking may contribute to a pullback by the tech-heavy Nasdaq after technology stocks rallied during trading on Thursday.

A rebound by treasury yields may weigh on tech stocks even as the Federal Reserve has repeatedly assured investors interest rates will remain unchanged for some time.

Meanwhile, the Dow may benefit from an advance by shares of Honeywell (HON), with the conglomerate moving notably higher in pre-market trading after Deutsche Bank upgraded its rating on the company’s stock to Buy from Hold.

Overall trading activity may be somewhat subdued, however, as traders may be reluctant to make significant moves amid uncertainty about the near-term outlook for the markets.

On the U.S. economic front, the Labor Department was scheduled to release its report producer prices in the month of March at 8:30 am ET, but technical difficulties have seemingly delayed the release of the data.

Shortly after the start of trading, the Commerce Department is scheduled to release its report on wholesale inventories in the month of February. Wholesale inventories are expected to rise by 0.5 percent.

After ending Wednesday’s trading little changed, stocks moved mostly higher over the course of the trading day on Thursday. The tech-heavy Nasdaq showed a particularly strong upward move, while the S&P 500 reached a new record closing high.

The major averages all closed in positive territory, although the Nasdaq outperformed its counterparts. While the Nasdaq jumped 140.47 points or 1 percent to 13,829.31, the S&P 500 rose 17.22 points or 0.4 percent to 4,097.17 and the Dow inched up 57.31 points or 0.2 percent to 33,503.57.

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly lower on Friday, although Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index bucked the downtrend and edged up by 0.2 percent. China’s Shanghai Composite Index slumped by 0.9 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets are turning in a mixed performance on the day. While the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index has dipped by 0.2 percent, the German DAX Index is up by 0.1 percent and the French CAC 40 Index is up by 0.3 percent.

In commodities trading, crude oil futures are falling $0.18 to $59.42 a barrel after slipping $0.17 to $59.60 a barrel on Thursday. Meanwhile, after climbing $16.60 to $1,758.20 an ounce in the previous session, gold futures are tumbling $19.90 to $1,738.30 an ounce.

On the currency front, the U.S. dollar is trading at 109.93 yen versus the 109.26 yen it fetched at the close of New York trading on Thursday. Against the euro, the dollar is valued at $1.1868 compared to yesterday’s $1.1914.