Investing.com -- U.S. futures pointed to a higher opening Friday, as Thursday’s rally in semiconductor stocks, which drove Asian and European markets to a seven-week high overnight, underpins sentiment.
The rally overshadowed the Senate’s failure Thursday to end the partial shutdown of the federal government, as well as comments from U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross downplaying the chance of a major breakthrough on trade in discussions with Chinese officials next week. It also overshadowed a disappointing fourth-quarter report from Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) after the bell Thursday.
At 06:35 AM ET (11:25 GMT), the blue-chip Dow futures contract was up 187 points, or about 0.8%, the S&P 500 futures rose 21 points, also a rise of 0.8%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures was indicated up 70 points, or 1.1%.
Aside from the tech sector, a strong earnings report after the bell Thursday by Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) is also likely to help the mood.
Earlier Friday, markets in Asia closed higher, as local technology stocks followed Wall Street’s lead. European markets rose after comments suggesting the European Central Bank may not raise interest rates this year after all.
Away from the equities market, the U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against six rival currencies, fell 0.3% to 96.05 as the British pound rose on hopes of avoiding a ‘no-deal Brexit’, while the yield on the 10-year Treasury bond rose 1 basis point to 2.72%.
In commodities, gold futures rose 0.3% to $1,283.45 a troy ounce, while crude oil rose 0.2% to $53.22 a barrel.