Investing.com – U.S. futures were up slightly on Friday as geopolitical worries cooled and investors looked ahead to a speech from Fed Chairman Jerome Powell.
The S&P 500 futures was up six points 0.35% to 2,734.25 as of 6:44 AM ET (10:44 GMT) while Dow futures increased 62 points or 0.25% to 24,865.0. Meanwhile tech heavy Nasdaq 100 futures rose 29 points or 0.42% to 6,986.25.
Markets closed in the red on Thursday after U.S. President Donald Trump cancelled a planned summit with North Korea.
On Friday North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said he was still open to talks after the White House said in a statement that it would be "inappropriate" to have a planned summit at this time. Trump and Kim Jong Un were set to meet in Singapore on June 12 to discuss possible denuclearization.
Investors will be listening into comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell after dovish Fed minutes on Wednesday. The Federal Reserve’s minutes showed policymakers were content with inflation temporarily overshooting the 2% target, pushing odds for a fourth rate hike this year back below the 50% threshold.
Powell will participate in a panel discussion of "Financial Stability and Central Bank Transparency" sponsored by the Sveriges Riskbank scheduled from 9:15AM ET (13:15GMT) to 10:30AM ET (14:30GMT) in Stockholm, Sweden.
Nuclear power firm Babcock & Wilcox Enterprises Inc (NYSE:BW) was among the biggest gainers in pre-market trading, rising 19.28%, while Bilibili Inc (NYSE:BILI) increase 2.38% and Chinese e-commerce firm Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) inched up 0.37%.
Elsewhere BP (LON:BP) PLC ADR (NYSE:BP) (LON:BP) was down 1.36%.
In earnings news, Foot Locker (NYSE:FL) is expected to report its earnings before the morning bell. On the economic front, core durable goods come out at 8:30 AM ET (12:30 GMT) followed by the Michigan Consumer Sentiment at 10:00 AM ET (14:00 GMT).
In Europe stocks were mostly up. Germany’s DAX rose 132 points or 1.03% while in France the CAC 40 increased 32 points or 0.58% and in London, the FTSE 100 was up 15 points or 0.20%. Meanwhile the pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 gained 16 points or 0.46% while Spain’s IBEX 35 fell 114 points or 1.14% after Spain’s main opposition group filed a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy.
In commodities, gold futures rose 0.08% to $1,305.50 a troy ounce while crude oil futures decreased 1.95% to $69.33 a barrel. The U.S. dollar index which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, was up 0.01%% to 93.73.