Futures Point To Higher Open For Wall Street

Trading on Friday might be impacted by the Labor Department’s closely watched monthly employment report for December.

In the wake of the Capitol riot, two cabinet members resigned.

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

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

As of 7.40 am ET, the Dow futures were adding 78.00 points, the S&P 500 futures were gaining 12.25 points and the Nasdaq 100 futures were gaining 65.25 points.

The U.S. major averages all closed firmly in positive territory on Thursday. The tech-heavy Nasdaq outperformed its counterparts. The Nasdaq spiked 326.69 points or 2.6 percent to 13,067.48, while the Dow climbed 211.73 points or 0.7 percent to 31,041.13 and the S&P 500 jumped 55.65 points or 1.5 percent to 3,803.79.

On the economic front, the Employment Situation for December will be issued at 8.30 am ET. The consensus for nonfarm payrolls is 65,000, while it was 245,000 in the prior month. The unemployment rate is expected to be 6.8 percent, compared to 6.7 percent in November.

The Commerce Department’s Wholesale Preliminary Inventories for November is scheduled at 10.00 am ET. The consensus is for a decline of 0.1 percent, while it was up 1.1 percent in the previous month.

The Baker Hughes Rig Count for the week will be released at 1.00 pm ET. In the prior week, the North America Rig Count was 410 and the U.S. Rig Count was 351.

The Fed Consumer Credit for November will be revealed at 3.00 pm ET. The consensus is for $9.0 Billion, while it was at $7.2 billion in the previous month.

Federal Reserve Vice Chair Richard Clarida to speak remotely in a virtual meeting hosted by the Council on Foreign Relations at 3.00 pm ET.

Asian stocks rallied on Friday. China’s Shanghai Composite index slid 6.10 points, or 0.17 percent, to 3,570.11. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rallied 1.20 percent to settle at 27,878.22.

Japanese shares hit a three-decade high. The Nikkei average climbed 648.90 points, or 2.36 percent, to 28,139.03. The broader Topix index closed 1.57 percent higher at 1,854.94.

Australian markets finished notably higher. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 rose 45.90 points, or 0.68 percent, to 6,757.90, while the broader All Ordinaries index ended up 43.70 points, or 0.63 percent, at 7,024.20.

European shares are trading mostly higher. Among the major indexes in the region, the German DAX is adding 104.72 points or 0.74 percent, the U.K. FTSE 100 Index is declining 2.79 points or 0.04 percent.

The Swiss Market Index is adding 20.93 points or 0.20 percent.

The Euro Stoxx 50 Index, which is a compilation of 50 blue chip stocks across the euro area, is progressing 0.60 percent.

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