Investing.com – Wall Street futures pointed to a higher open on Friday as investors waited for various Federal Reserve (Fed) officials to give their views on the economy and hoped for hints on plans for removing accommodative policy stateside.
The blue-chip Dow futures gained 88 points, or 0.50%, by 11:01AM GMT, or 7:01AM ET, the S&P 500 futures rose 12 points, or 0.59%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures advanced 28 points, or 0.62%.
As Wall Street appeared to be ready to bounce back from Thursday's slide, market participants will continue to keep watch over remarks from Fed officials on Friday as they search for clues on the future path of rate hikes from the U.S. central bank.
New York Fed president William Dudley was scheduled to speak on the economy at 12:30GMT, or 8:30AM ET, Philadelphia Fed chief Patrick Harker will make a speech at 13:00GMT, or 9:00AM ET, and the head of the Dallas Fed, Robert Kaplan, will give opening remarks at a Texas-Mexico conference at 13:30GMT, or 9:30AM ET.
After the market close on Thursday, Fed chair Janet Yellen defended the decision to raise rates last December and maintained that “a gradual path of rate increases will be appropriate”.
Kansas City Fed president Esther George, who voted for a rate hike at the last Fed meeting, later warned of the dire consequences of waiting too long to tighten monetary policy.
Meanwhile, oil jumped more than 3% while investors looked ahead to U.S. rig count data from Baker Hughes.
U.S. crude futures gained 3.44% to $38.54 by 11:03GMT or 7:03AM ET, while Brent oil traded up 2.94% to $40.59.
On a light calendar day, the U.S. Census Bureau will release February wholesale inventories at at 14:00GMT, or 10:00AM ET.
In company news, Yahoo! Inc (NASDAQ:YHOO) decided to give bidders another week delaying the deadline for offers until April 18.
Gap Inc (NYSE:GPS) dropped almost 3% in pre-market trade after March same-store sales fell 6%, compared to analysts who were looking for a 4.3% decline.
No major companies were scheduled to report earnings.