Wall Street Aims To Open Broadly Up

Trading on Friday might be impacted by Producer Price Index as well as Wholesale Inventories for February.

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

Early signs from the U.S. Futures Index suggest that Wall Street might open broadly up.

As of 7.55 am ET, the Dow futures were adding 90.00 points, the S&P 500 futures were progressing 6.00 points and the Nasdaq 100 futures were sliding 20.75 points.

The U.S. major averages all closed in positive territory on Thursday. 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.

On the economic front, the Labor Department’s Producer Price Index or PPI – Final Demand for March will be issued at 8.30 am ET. The Consensus is for an increase of 0.5 percent, while it was up 0.5 percent in the previous month.

The Commerce Department’s Wholesale Inventories for February will be released at 10.00 am ET. The consensus is for 0.5 percent growth, while it was up 1.3 percent in the previous month.

Baker Hughes Rig Count for the week will be revealed at 1.00 pm ET. In the prior week, the North America Rig Count was 499, and the U.S. Rig Count was 430.

Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan will make a public speak at 12.30 pm ET.

Asian stocks fell broadly on Friday. Chinese shares fell as the latest inflation data surprised to the upside and raised worries about further tightening of policy. The benchmark Shanghai Composite index ended down 31.88 points, or 0.92 percent, at 3,450.68 while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 1.07 percent to 28,698.80.

Japanese shares eked out modest gains. The Nikkei average edged up 59.08 points, or 0.20 percent, to 29,768.06, while the broader Topix ended 0.39 percent higher at 1,959.47.

Australian markets ended slightly lower to snap a five-day rally. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index finished marginally lower at 6,995.20 while the broader All Ordinaries index ended with a positive bias at 7,252.30 after data showed strong sales and new orders lifted activity in the services sector in March.

European shares are trading broadly higher. Among the major indexes in the region, the CAC 40 Index of France is declining 25.81 points or 0.43 percent. The German DAX is progressing 27.79 points or 0.18 percent, the U.K. FTSE 100 Index is down 2.79 points or 0.04 percent.

The Swiss Market Index is adding 8.64 points or 0.08 percent.

The Euro Stoxx 50 Index, which is a compilation of 50 blue chip stocks across the euro area, is up 0.19 percent.

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