U.S. stock futures pointed to a higher open on Friday, as Thursday's upbeat U.S. economic reports continued to fuel optimism over the strength of the country's economic recovery, while markets still eyed upcoming home sales data.
U.S. equities found support on Thursday, after the Department of Labor said the number of people who filed for unemployment assistance in the U.S. last week fell by 3,000 to 336,000, slightly below expectations for a decline of 4,000.Ahead of the open, the Dow Jones Industrial Average futures pointed to a 0.20% rise, S&P 500 futures signaled a 0.17% increase, while the Nasdaq 100 futures indicated a 0.14% gain.
The Labor Department also said U.S. consumer prices rose 1.6% on a year-over-year basis in January, in line with forecasts. Consumer prices were 0.1% higher from a month earlier, also matching forecasts.
The data came after Wednesday’s minutes of the Federal Reserve’s January meeting indicated that that the current pace of its decrease in bond purchases would remain unchanged, so long as the economy shows signs of improvement.
The financial sector was likely to be in focus, following reports Citigroup boosted Chief Executive Officer Michael Corbat’s compensation 25% to about $14.4 million for 2013. Shares in the U.S. lender were up 0.21% in after-hour trade.
Facebook was also expected to remain active, after the social network announced earlier in the week the acquisition of mobile-messaging startup WhatsApp Inc. for as much as $19 billion. After gaining over 2% on Thursday, the stock was up 0.32% in early trading.
Elsewhere, Juniper Networks surged 2.81% after hours, as the company announced plans to return at least $3 billion to shareholders and cut $160 million in expenses, bowing to pressure from activist hedge funds Elliott Management Corp. and Jana Partners LLC.
In earnings news, late Thursday, Hewlett-Packard reported fiscal first-quarter sales and profit that topped market estimates, thanks to new orders for corporate machines and servers to run data centers. The news sent shares in the personal-computer maker up 1.13% in extended trade.
Other stocks likely to be in focus included Charter Communications, scheduled to report quarterly results later in the day.
Across the Atlantic, European stock markets were mixed to higher. The EURO STOXX 50 edged up 0.12%, France’s CAC 40 rose 0.20%, Germany's DAX dipped 0.01%, while Britain's FTSE 100 gained 0.29%.
During the Asian trading session, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index gained 0.78%, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index rallied 2.88%.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to release private sector data on existing homes sales.
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