U.S. stock futures are pointing higher in pre-market trading for Friday, October 28. The Dow Futures are at 18085.0 for a gain of 3.00 points. The S&P 500 Futures are at 2125.75 for a gain of 2.25 points. The Nasdaq Futures are at 4809.0 for a gain of 2.00 points. The Russell Futures are at 1184.1 for a gain of 0.30 points.

In overnight trading in the Eastern Hemisphere Asia Pacific indexes were at the following:

Japan’s Nikkei 225 at 17446.41 for a gain of 0.63 percent

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng at 22954.81 for a loss of -0.77 percent

China’s Shanghai Composite at 3104.27 for a loss of -0.26 percent

India’s S&P BSE Sensex at 27941.51 for a gain of 0.09 percent

In Europe:

FTSE 100 at 6977.11 for a loss of -0.14 percent

Germany’s DAX at 10683.31 for a loss of -0.32 percent

France’s CAC 40 at 4539.68 for a gain of 0.13 percent

Stoxx Europe 600 at 340.23 for a loss of -0.43 percent

Friday’s Factors and Events

The futures are pointing higher for the day however market sentiment appears to be subdued with mixed earnings reports and valuations down globally for the week. The day’s main focus will be on the third estimate of GDP from the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

Stocks trading actively in the pre-market include the following:

L-3 Communications

O’Reilly Automotive

National Oilwell

Murphy Oil

CF Industries Holdings

Noble Energy

McKesson Corp.

McCormick & Company

Fiserv Inc.

Southwestern Energy

Approximately 60 companies will report earnings on Friday. In the Dow Jones Industrial Average, Exxon and Chevron will report earnings.

Thursday’s Activity

U.S. market indexes were lower Thursday. For the day the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 18169.68 for a loss of -29.65 points or -0.16 percent. The S&P 500 closed at 2133.04 for a loss of -6.39 points or -0.30 percent. The Nasdaq Composite closed at 5215.97 for a loss of -34.29 points or -0.65 percent.

Source: DJIA, S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite. Google Finance.

Other notable index closes included the small-cap Russell 2000 Index at 1189.95 for a loss of -14.80 points or -1.23 percent; the S&P 600 Small-Cap Index at 719.32 for a loss of -7.97 points or -1.10 percent; the S&P 400 Mid-Cap Index at 1501.05 for a loss of -13.81 points or -0.91 percent; the S&P 100 Index at 949.99 for a loss of -1.22 points or -0.13 percent; the Russell 3000 Index at 1258.03 for a loss of -5.26 points or -0.42 percent; the Russell 1000 Index at 1180.22 for a loss of -4.16 points or -0.35 percent; and the Dow Jones U.S. Select Dividend Index at 596.69 for a loss of -4.17 points or -0.69 percent.