The major U.S. index futures are currently pointing to a higher open on Friday, with stocks likely to extend the advance seen over the course of the previous session.
The markets may continue to benefit from renewed optimism about the outlook for interest rates, which has helped drive the Dow to a seven-day winning streak.
Recent data has pointed to some softness in the U.S. labor market, increasing investor confidence the Federal Reserve will lower interest rates in the coming months.
While the Fed is still widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged in June, the chances rates will be lower by September have reached 85.4 percent, according to CME Group’s FedWatch Tool.
However, early trading activity may be somewhat subdued ahead of the release of the University of Michigan’s preliminary reading on consumer sentiment in the month of May.
The consumer sentiment index is expected to dip to 76.0 in May after falling to 77.2 in April, although traders may pay closer attention to the readings on inflation expectations.
Following the lackluster performance seen over the two previous sessions, stocks moved mostly higher during trading on Thursday. The Dow extended its winning streak to seven sessions, once again reaching its best closing level in over a month.
The major averages ended the day just off their highs of the session. The Dow jumped 331.37 points or 0.9 percent to 39,387.76, the S&P 500 climbed 26.41 points or 0.5 percent to 5,214.08 and the Nasdaq rose 43.51 points or 0.3 percent to 16,346.26.
The strength on Wall Street came following the release of a Labor Department report showing a much bigger than expected increase by first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits in the week ended May 4th.
The report said initial jobless claims climbed to 231,000, an increase of 22,000 from the previous week’s revised level of 209,000.
Economists had expected jobless claims to inch up to 210,000 from the 208,000 originally reported for the previous week.
With the much bigger than expected increase, jobless claims reached their highest level since hitting 234,000 in week ended August 26th.
The data added to recently renewed optimism that the Federal Reserve will lower interest rates in the coming months.
Among individual stocks, shares of AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) skyrocketed after the mobile technology company reported first quarter results that beat expectations on both the top and bottom lines.
Glasses retailer Warby Parker (NYSE:WRBY) also showed a substantial move to the upside after reporting a narrower than expected first quarter loss on revenues that exceeded estimates.
On the other hand, shares of Airbnb (NASDAQ:ABNB) moved sharply lower after the vacation rental company reported better than expected first quarter results but provided disappointing guidance.
Telecom stocks moved sharply higher over the course of the trading session, resulting in a 4.2 percent spike by the NYSE Arca North American Telecom Index.
Significant strength was also visible among gold stocks, as reflected by the 2.5 percent jump by the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index. The strength in the sector came amid an increase by the price of gold.
Commercial real estate stocks also showed a strong move to the upside on the day, driving the Dow Jones U.S. Real Estate Index up by 2.1 percent.
Oil service, housing and steel stocks also saw considerable strength, moving higher along with most of the other major sectors.