Investing.com - U.S. futures were slightly higher on Friday, as investors look ahead to data on the strength of the U.S. economy.
The S&P 500 futures rose 2 points, or 0.07%, to 2,844.50 as of 6:57 AM ET (10:57 GMT), while Dow futures increased 26 points, or 0.10%, to 25,551.0. Meanwhile, the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures increased 18 points, or 0.25%, to 7,449.25
Second-quarter gross domestic product data is released at 8:30 AM ET (12:30 GMT). Investors will watch the numbers closely for signs of a strengthening economy, with traders expecting the U.S. to register its strongest expansion in four years.
Strong economic growth would support expectations for the Federal Reserve to continue gradually increasing interest rates.
In earnings news, Twitter (NYSE:TWTR) slumped 16.16% in premarket trading after its monthly active users came in lower than expected. Investors will also be looking to earnings results from Dow components Chevron (NYSE:CVX) and Exxon (NYSE:XOM).
Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) was up 4.76% after its operating income beat analyst expectations, while Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) rose 0.60% . Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) rallied 0.96% after losing nearly 19% in trading on Thursday. The company warned on Wednesday that margins could fall due to privacy safeguard costs and slowing usage of the site.
Elsewhere Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) slumped 6.65% after reporting slower-than-expected sales growth to data centers and delaying the release of its next-generation chips until the end of 2019.
In Europe stocks were up. Germany’s DAX rose 67 points, or 0.52%, while in France the CAC 40 increased 14 points points, or 0.26%, and in London, the FTSE 100 was up 44 points or 0.58%. Meanwhile the pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 gained 17 points, or 0.49%, while Spain’s IBEX 35 inched up 87 points, or 0.89%.
In commodities, gold futures fell 0.61% to $1,218.20 a troy ounce while crude oil futures decreased 0.20% to $69.47 a barrel. The U.S. dollar index which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, was up 0.06% to 94.63.