U.S. equity markets looked to pop at the opening bell on Friday as traders parsed comments from Janet Yellen, and awaited the latest GDP data.
As of 8:00 a.m. ET, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures jumped 246 points, or 1.54% to 16347. S&P 500 futures gained 27 points, or 1.45% to 1946, while Nasdaq 100 futures added 56 points, or 1.33% to 4302.
Today’s Markets
Wall Street cheered comments from Federal Reserve Chief Janet Yellen on Friday morning. Yellen, who took the podium at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst on Thursday night, said the central bank is on track to raise short-term interest rates this year despite a decision last week to keep them at historic lows. She added that the FOMC anticipates inflation will “return to 2% over the next few years as the temporary factors that are currently weighing on inflation wane.”
In her comments, Yellen added that recent developments in the global economy could put a damper on U.S. economic growth; however members of the committee “do not currently anticipate that the effects of these recent developments on the U.S. economy will prove to be large enough to have a significant effect on the path for policy.”
Alastair McCaig, market analyst at IG, said the clarity Yellen provided in her comments helped give markets a reason to rally.
“She finally added a little more clarity as to where she stood,” he wrote. “Equity markets have rallied following her comments that she still wanted to increase rates this year and that she had held her vote for change. This will ensure that FX markets continue to debate whether rates rise in 2015 or 2016.”
The yield on the benchmark U.S. Treasury bond rose 0.053 percentage point to 2.171%.
As the Fed remains data dependent before it makes the decision to hike rates, traders continue to closely monitor the latest economic reports to gauge the health of the U.S. economy. On Friday, the Commerce Department was set to release the final reading on second-quarter gross domestic product. The economy was expected to have grown at an annualized pace of 3.7%.
Consumer sentiment data from the University of Michigan was expected to have shown the gauge fell to 86.7 in August from a preliminary reading of the 92.9.
Elsewhere, markets were relatively calm ahead of the weekend.
European equity markets rallied as the Euro Stoxx 50, which tracks large-cap companies in the eurozone, jumped 2.82%. The Greman Dax gained 2.44%, the French CAC 40 rallied 3.07%, and the UK’s FTSE 100 gained 2.33%.
In Asia, China’s Shanghai Composite declined 1.60%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.43%, and Japan’s Nikkei jumped 1.76%.
In commodities, global oil prices took a breather after a week of wild swings. U.S. crude prices rose 0.71% to $45.24 a barrel, while Brent, the international benchamark, added 0.10% to $48.22 a barrel.
Metals were mixed as gold shed 0.94% to $1,142 a troy ounce and silver declined 0.56% to $15.05 an ounce. Copper, meanwhile, rose 0.26% to $2.31 a pound.
The U.S. dollar rose against a basket of other currencies while the euro declined 0.67% against the greenback.
In corporate news, Apple’s (AAPL) latest devices, the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus went on sale Friday. The new phones feature better cameras and a new 3D touch system. Excited fans were lined up days prior to the launch to be one of the first people to get their hands on the new offerings.
Nike (NKE) shares jumped more than 9% in pre-market action on Friday after the footwear and apparel maker unveiled second-quarter earnings that handily beat expectations after the bell on Thursday.
European regulators on Friday said they opened an investigation into an office-supply chain merger between Staples and Office Depot saying the deal could increase prices and provide less choice for consumers. Staples CEO Ron Sargent has said he expects the deal to close by the end of the year despite recent opposition.
