Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq futures are currently pointing to a slightly higher open on Friday, with stocks likely to see further upside following the notable rebound seen in the previous session.
Early buying interest may be generated in reaction to a sharp increase by shares of Oracle (NYSE:ORCL), as the software giant is surging by more than 4 percent in pre-market trading.
The jump by Oracle comes after a memo from TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew said the company has agreed to sell its U.S. operations to a joint venture that includes Oracle and private equity firm Silver Lake.
Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) is also seeing notable pre-market strength after a report from Reuters said the Trump administration has launched a review that could result in the first shipments of the company’s second-most powerful AI chips to China.
Shars of Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) may also see further upside after helping lead the markets higher on Thursday on better than expected quarterly results and blowout guidance.
After coming under considerable selling pressure over the course of the previous session, stocks showed a strong move back to the upside during trading on Thursday. The tech-heavy Nasdaq led the rebound by the major averages.
The Nasdaq jumped 313.04 points or 1.4 percent to 23,006.36 and the S&P 500 advanced 53.33 points or 0.8 percent to 6,774.76, while the narrower Dow fluctuated before closing up 65.88 points or 0.1 percent at 47,951.85.
The strength on Wall Street came following the release of a closely watched Labor Department unexpectedly showing a slowdown in the annual rate of consumer price growth.
The Labor Department said consumer prices in November were up by 2.7 percent compared to the same month a year ago.
The year-over-year price growth in November reflects a notable slowdown from the 3.0 percent surge in September. Economists had expected the annual rate of growth to tick up to 3.1 percent.
The annual rate of growth by core consumer prices, which exclude food and energy prices, also slowed to 2.6 percent in November from 3.0 percent in September. The pace of core price growth was expected to remain unchanged.
The tamer-than-expected inflation data has led to renewed confidence the Federal Reserve will continue cutting interest rates next year.
“Inflation has lost its grip—and the Fed knows it,” said Gina Bolvin, President of Bolvin Wealth Management Group. “Today’s CPI print gives the market what it needed: confirmation that disinflation is durable and policy relief is coming.”
A separate report released by the Labor Department showed first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits declined roughly in line with economist estimates in the week ended December 13th.
The Labor Department said initial jobless claims fell to 224,000, a decrease of 13,000 from the previous week’s revised level of 237,000.
Economists had expected jobless claims to slip to 225,000 from the 236,000 originally reported for the previous week.
Semiconductor stocks showed a substantial rebound after falling sharply on Wednesday, resulting in a 2.5 percent surge by the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (NASDAQI:SOX).
Software and networking stocks also saw significant strength on the day, contributing to the jump by the tech-heavy Nasdaq.
Outside of tech sector, airline stocks turned in a strong performances, while energy stocks gave back ground after Wednesday’s rally.