U.S. Market Futures Higher Ahead of GDP Report

U.S. stock futures are pointing higher in pre-market trading for Friday, May 27. The Dow Futures are up 15.00 points to 17832.0. The S&P 500 Futures are up 1.75 points at 2091.5. The Nasdaq Futures are higher at 4502.25 for a gain of 10.00 points. The Russell Futures are showing a gain of 1.00 at 1140.0                     .

In overnight trading in the Eastern Hemisphere, China’s Shanghai Composite is lower at 2821.05 for a loss of -1.40 points or -0.05 percent. Japan’s Nikkei is higher at 16834.84 for a gain of 62.38 points or 0.37 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index is higher at 20576.77 for a gain of 179.66 points or 0.88 percent. The S&P BSE Sensex is higher at 26653.60 for a gain of 286.92 points or 1.09 percent. The Asia Dow is higher at 2660.16 for a gain of 18.33 points or 0.69 percent. In Europe, the FTSE 100 is higher at 6270.35 for a gain of 4.70 points or 0.08 percent. Germany’s DAX is higher at 10278.03 for a gain of 5.32 points or 0.05 percent. France’s CAC 40 is higher at 4514.28 for a gain of 1.64 points or 0.04 percent. The Stoxx Europe 600 is higher at 349.12 for a gain of 0.21 points or 0.06 percent. The Europe Dow is higher at 1583.31 for a gain of 3.40 points or 0.22 percent.

Friday’s Factors and Events

Friday’s economic indicators will be the highlight of the week with the second estimate for GDP to be released at 8:30 AM EST along with corporate profits. Janet Yellen is also scheduled to speak in the afternoon. The University of Michigan’s Consumer Sentiment Report will also be released on Friday.

Market trading will mainly be focused on the day’s economic reports. In pre-market trading for the day the following stocks are trading actively: Dollar Tree, PVH, Chesapeake Energy, Dollar General, Costco, NetApp, Carnival, Hewlett Packard Enterprises, Chipotle and Huntington Bancshare.

Investors will also be watching oil prices as they trade steadily around $50 a barrel with some signs of improvement beginning to show in the energy market overall. Major countries with slowed production contributing to the supply balance improvements include Canada, Nigeria and Venezuela.

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Source: WTI oil from DailyFX.

Thursday’s Activity

In the U.S. the leading stock indexes were mostly lower on Thursday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 17,828.29 for a loss of 23.22 points or 0.13 percent. The Standard & Poor’s 500 was down, closing at 2,090.10 for a loss of 0.44 points or 0.02 percent. The Nasdaq Composite closed higher at 4,901.77 for a gain of 6.88 points or 0.14 percent.

Other notable index closes in the U.S. on Thursday included the small-cap Russell 2000 closing at 1,139.75 for a loss of 1.27 points or 0.11 percent; the small-cap S&P 600 closing at 696.98 for a loss of 0.90 points or 0.13 percent; the S&P 400 Mid-Cap Index, which closed at 1,480.65 for a loss of 0.55 points or -0.04 percent; the Russell 3000, which closed at 1,230.70 for a loss of 0.65 points or 0.05 percent, and the Dow Jones U.S. Select Dividend Index, which closed at 589.27 for a gain of 1.39 points or 0.24 percent.