U.S. stock futures advanced in pre-market trading on Friday, extending the recovery seen on Thursday after Monday’s selloff. Despite recent gains, the S&P 500, Nasdaq, and Dow are still down for the week.
At 5:07 AM ET, Dow Jones futures (DOWI:DJI) rose 70 points or 0.18%. S&P 500 futures gained 0.34%, and Nasdaq-100 futures advanced 0.53%. The 10-year Treasury yield stood at 3.967%.
In the commodities market, U.S. job data eased concerns about demand, alongside tensions in the Middle East. Prices are also supported by positive Chinese inflation data and heightened geopolitical risks, such as conflicts in Gaza.
Global oil demand needs to increase faster to absorb the supply rise that OPEC+ plans starting in October. So far, demand from the U.S. and China has not met expectations, and an economic slowdown might prompt OPEC+ to adjust its production plans.
West Texas Intermediate crude for September fell 0.04% to $76.16 per barrel, while Brent crude for October fell 0.05% to $79.12 per barrel.
Asia-Pacific markets ended Friday higher, following Wall Street’s gains. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 1.25% to 7,777.7. Japan’s Nikkei 225 advanced 0.56% to 35,025. South Korea’s Kospi climbed 1.24% to 2,588.43, and the Kosdaq gained 2.57% to 764.43. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng increased by 1.42%, while Mainland China’s CSI 300 fell 0.34% to close at 3,331.63.
In July, China’s consumer prices rose 0.5%, surpassing the forecast of 0.3% and accelerating from a 0.2% increase in June. In contrast, producer prices fell 0.8%, slightly above the expected 0.9%, remaining stable from the previous month.
New yuan loans plummeted in July to about 450 billion yuan, a 79% reduction from June, reflecting low credit demand and seasonal factors, though the value is higher than last year.
China’s securities regulator ordered brokers to review their bond trading operations to curb excessive purchases, aiming to prevent a potential market bubble and protect investors amid economic instability and low deposit rates.
European markets are trading higher, attempting to recover from recent instability and following gains in Wall Street and Asia-Pacific. Sectors like travel, leisure, and mining led the gains. Hargreaves Lansdown (LSE:HL.) and Lanxess (TG:LXS) are set to announce quarterly earnings.
In July, Germany’s inflation rose to 2.6%, as confirmed by the federal statistics agency, up from 2.5% in June.
On Thursday night, Bitcoin (COIN:BTCUSD) crossed the $60,000 mark, benefiting from the recovery of risk assets. Bitcoin’s price is at $60,780 at the time of writing. Ether (COIN:ETHUSD) is trading at $2,664. However, both cryptocurrencies are still on track to post weekly losses, with Bitcoin and Ether down -6.93% and -16.7% over the past 7 days, respectively.
U.S. stocks surged on Thursday. The Dow Jones climbed 683.04 points (1.76%) to 39,446.49, the S&P 500 rose 119.81 points (2.30%) to 5,319.31, and the Nasdaq jumped 464.22 points (2.87%) to 16,660.02. The rally was driven by a Labor Department report showing initial jobless claims fell to 233,000, down 17,000 from the previous week, beating the expectation of 240,000.
Among individual stocks, Under Armour (NYSE:UAA) soared after reporting an unexpected profit in the fiscal third quarter. Eli Lilly (NYSE:LLY) rose after better-than-expected second-quarter results and an upward revision of its annual revenue forecast. Lattice Semiconductor (NASDAQ:LSCC) jumped 13.3% after Raymond James upgraded its rating. In contrast, Warner Bros. Discovery (NASDAQ:WBD) fell due to disappointing second-quarter results and a $9.1 billion impairment charge.
On the earnings front, companies reporting before the market opens include Canopy Growth Corporation (NASDAQ:CGC), Nikola Corporation (NASDAQ:NKLA), Embraer (NYSE:ERJ), New Fortress Energy LLC (NASDAQ:NFE), Construction Partners (NASDAQ:ROAD), Berry Corporation (NASDAQ:BRY), Legend Biotech (NASDAQ:LEGN), Embecta (NASDAQ:EMBC), AMC Networks (NASDAQ:AMCX), and Algonquin (NYSE:AQN).