By Peter Nurse
Investing.com -- U.S. stocks are seen opening higher Friday, building on the previous session’s sharp rally following cooler-than-feared inflation data, helped by China easing some of its COVID mobility restrictions.
At 07:00 ET (12:00 GMT), the Dow Futures contract was up 145 points, or 0.4%, S&P 500 Futures traded 16 points, or 0.4%, higher, and Nasdaq 100 Futures climbed 65 points, or 0.6%.
The main stock indices closed substantially higher Thursday, posting their biggest one-day rallies since 2020, meaning they are all on course for positive weeks.
The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average gained over 1,200 points, or 3.7%, on Thursday, the broad-based S&P 500 rose 5.5%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite climbed 7.4%.
This followed the release of the October U.S. consumer prices report, which came in at its lowest level since January, suggesting inflation may have peaked in June and raising hopes that the Federal Reserve will soon start to ease off its interest rate hikes.
The U.S. central bank is still set to lift rates in December, when it next meets, but the expectation is building that the policymakers will agree to a half-percentage point hike, rather than the 0.75 percentage point increases at each of its last four meetings.
Adding to the optimism Friday was the news that China eased its quarantine rules, with travelers into the country now required to isolate for five days instead of seven. This move has raised hopes that the country’s authorities will take another look at the COVID-Zero policy that has hampered growth in the world’s second-largest economy.
In the political arena, the Republicans were inching closer to wresting control of the House of Representatives, but the fate of the Senate is still up for grabs with the races in Nevada and Arizona very tight and a runoff election due in Georgia in early December.
The main economic release scheduled for Friday is the Michigan consumer sentiment reading for November, at 10:00 ET (15:00 GMT), which is expected to show a reading of 59.5, down from the previous 59.9.
In corporate news, Toast (NYSE:TOST) stock surged premarket after the digital technology platform built for restaurants raised its full-year revenue guidance, after reporting a strong third quarter.
Oil prices surged Friday, boosted by dollar weakness in the wake of the milder-than-expected U.S. inflation release as well as raised hopes of a relaxation of China’s severe COVID restrictions.
Data from Baker Hughes showing the number of U.S. oil rigs in play are due later in the session, as well as CFTC positioning numbers.
By 07:00 ET, U.S. crude futures traded 3.4% higher at $89.44 a barrel, while the Brent contract rose 3.1% to $96.57. This follows gains of around 1% on Thursday, but the benchmarks are still heading for losses of around 3% for the week.
Additionally, gold futures rose 0.5% to $1,762.90/oz, while EUR/USD traded 0.8% higher at 1.0292.