Stocks - New Dow Record Eyed as U.S. Futures Set to Open Higher
Investing.com - U.S. futures pointed to another record high on Friday, as momentum continued after the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed over 27,000 for the first time on Thursday.
Expectations of the Federal Reserve easing monetary policy at the end of July are still dominating sentiment, after Fed Chairman Jerome Powell testified that the central bank is worried about weak inflation and various "uncertainties" weighing on the economic outlook.
“There is a clear sense that investors remain overly pessimistic on the global macro landscape, and as a result underinvested,” Mark Dowding, chief investment officer at Blue Bay Asset Management wrote in a note.
Nasdaq 100 futures rose 27 points or 0.3% by 6:46 AM ET (10:46 GMT), while Dow futures gained 100 points or 0.4% and S&P 500 futures rose 8 points or 0.3%.
Trade tensions are still bubbling, however, after China reported that its trade surplus with the U.S. rose 12% during the first half of the year. Exports to the U.S. fell 2.6%, while imports were down 25.7%, which is likely to irk the White House.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday that China has not kept its promise to purchase more American farm goods, while Beijing has never confirmed agreeing to anything of the kind, although it had offered to increase agricultural purchases as part of a broader bilateral agreement. That agreement hasn't been forthcoming, despite the resumption of technical talks this week.
Semiconductor companies were among the top gainers in premarket trading, with Micron (NASDAQ:MU) up 0.6% and Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) gaining 0.5%. Social media company Snap (NYSE:SNAP) jumped 3.9% after Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) followed Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) in upgrading the company.
Boeing (NYSE:BA) inched down 0.1% after news that its 737 program manager, Eric Lindblad, will retire in a few weeks. The company has struggled to return the grounded 737 Max jets to service.
On the data front, whole inflation figures are out at 8:30 AM Et (12:30 GMT).
In commodities, crude oil rose 0.2% to $60.32 a barrel, while gold futures gained 0.1% to $1,408.05 a troy ounce. The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, was flat at 96.627.
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