Forexpros – U.S. stock futures pointed to a mixed open on Friday, as markets were jittery ahead of the release of U.S. consumer confidence data, despite reassuring comments by German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Ahead of the open, the Dow Jones Industrial Average futures pointed to a 0.01% loss, S&P 500 futures signaled a 0.06% decline, while the Nasdaq 100 futures indicated a 0.21% gain.
Sentiment slightly strengthened earlier, after German Chancellor Merkel expressed support for European Central Bank intervention in order to ease the effects of the euro zone’s financial crisis.
Merkel said that comments by ECB President Mario Draghi, who outlined conditional plans at the start of the month to buy bonds of troubled euro zone governments, were “completely in line” with the approach taken by European leaders and urged the bloc to now act swiftly to tackle its debt woes.
But investors remained cautious ahead of the release of U.S. data later Friday, as a string of mixed U.S. reports over the week gave no clear indication on whether the Federal Reserve will soon announce fresh stimulus measures.
The Internet sector was likely to be in focus, as Facebook sank over 6% on Thursday, marking the second-largest post-lock-up decline among companies that have gone public since January 2011.
The slump left the company at a record low of USD19.87, after a 60% increase in the number of shares available for trading. Facebook shares were up 0.60% in pre-market trade.
Meanwhile, Zynga and Groupon were also eyed amid similar lockup concerns, with shares dropping 0.67% and 0.40% respectively in early trading.
Elsewhere, specialty-apparel retailer Gap was expected to be active, after saying that net income for the second quarter rose more than expected.
Also in the retail sector, Foot Locker jumped 4.52% in premarket trade after the footwear company posted second-quarter earnings that topped estimates.
Elsewhere in earnings news, J.M. Smucker, the maker of Folgers coffee and Jif peanut butter, posted better-than-expected quarterly results as price cuts helped demand, sending shares up 3.27% pre-market.
Across the Atlantic, European stock markets were higher. The EURO STOXX 50 rose 0.39%, France’s CAC 40 inched up 0.05%, Germany’s DAX added 0.32%, while Britain’s FTSE 100 edged 0.12% higher.
During the Asian trading session, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index advanced 0.52%, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index climbed 0.76%.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to release a preliminary report by the University of Michigan on consumer sentiment and inflation expectations.
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