Futures on major U.S. stock indices point to a lower opening on Friday as investors continue to worry about the strength of economic recovery after weaker than expected economic reports in the last session.
Futures on the S&P 500 are down 0.54 percent, futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average are down 0.49 percent and Nasdaq100 futures are down 0.43 percent.
Due to absence of economic and major earnings reports on Friday the market movement may be within the narrow range.
On Thursday, US stocks plunged as investors got hammered by a new dose of negative economic news, including a climb in unemployment claims and a drop in manufacturing activity.
Initial jobless claims for the week ended August 15 jumped to 500,000. This is the highest level since the week ended November 14, 2009. The index for Philadelphia area manufacturing plunged and showed the first contraction since July 2009.
On the earnings front, Hewlett-Packard and Dell Inc. released after-the-bell earnings reports Thursday. HP’s third quarter net income rose to $1.8 billion or $0.75 per share from $1.7 billion or $0.69 per share in the same period last year. Its net revenue rose 11.4 percent to $30.7 billion.
Dell reported better than expected quarterly results on strong demand from corporate clients. The company’s second quarter profit rose to $545 million or $0.28 per share from $472 million or $0.24 per share in the same period a year ago.
European stocks declined on Friday, tracking cues from lower Asian and US markets and are currently trading lower with FTSE 100 trading down by 40.97 points, DAX30 down by 67.82 points and CAC 40 down by 49.33 points.
The euro declined 0.87 percent to 1.2712 against the dollar and the yen declined 0.07 percent against the greenback.
Crude oil futures plunged 1.52 percent and copper futures fell 1.80 percent. In precious metals sector, gold futures declined 0.36 percent and silver futures fell 0.97 percent.
Asian stock markets declined on Friday, led by declines in Japanese stocks on stronger yen. Japanese shares fell 1.96 percent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng declined 0.43 percent and Chinese Shanghai down at 1.70 percent.
