Investing.com – Wall Street was set for a higher opening bell on Friday while concern over the tax reform bill still lingered.
The S&P 500 futures rose four points or 0.16% as of 6:53 AM ET (11:53 GMT) while Dow futures increased 58 points or 0.24%. Meanwhile tech heavy Nasdaq 100 futures was up 12 points or 0.20%.
Stocks fell by the close on Thursday amid news that two Republican senators have concerns about the tax bill. Senators Marco Rubio and Mike Lee have said they are opposed to the current legislation while Sen. Bob Corker also disagrees with the bill and is worried it doesn't address the federal deficit. He's waiting to see the final bill before deciding how he will vote. With the Senate holding a small majority, just one more GOP opposition vote could capsize the bill.
Pharmaceutical firm Teva Pharma Industries Ltd ADR (NYSE:TEVA) was among the top gainers in pre-market trading, rising 4.44% after it announced it was laying off 14,000 people over the next two years in a restructuring bid to save the company. Meanwhile financial giant ING Group NV ADR (NYSE:ING) was up 0.38% while Chinese e-commerce firm Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) rose 0.41% and telecommunications firm Nokia (HE:NOKIA) increased 0.65%.
Elsewhere banking firm HSBC Holdings (LON:HSBA) PLC ADR (NYSE:HSBC) dipped 1.00% while Barclays (LON:BARC) PLC ADR (NYSE:BCS) fell 1.11% and computer software firm Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL) slumped 6.85% as its computer cloud sales missed estimates.
In Europe stocks were mostly down. Germany’s DAX lost 34 points or 0.26% while in France the CAC 40 decreased 20 points or 0.39% and in London, the FTSE 100 inched forward three points or 0.04%. Meanwhile the pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 fell 16 points or 0.46% while Spain’s IBEX 35 slipped 22 points or 0.22%.
In commodities, gold futures rose 0.27% to $1,260.50 a troy ounce while crude oil futures surged 0.61% to $57.39 a barrel. The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, fell 0.17% to 93.48.