Dow Futures Rise 180 Pts; Industrial Production Data and Powell Speech in Focus By

© Reuters

By Peter Nurse    

-- U.S. stocks are seen opening higher Friday, regaining some ground after the previous session’s hefty losses as investors await the latest economic data releases amid growing recession concerns.

At 7 AM ET (1100 GMT), the Dow Futures contract was up 180 points, or 0.6%, S&P 500 Futures traded 30 points, or 0.8%, higher and Nasdaq 100 Futures climbed 120 points, or 1.1%.

The main indices on Wall Street closed sharply lower Thursday as investors worried about the looming threat of recession in the wake of aggressive monetary tightening by a series of major central banks, including the Federal Reserve.

The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped over 700 points, or 2.4%, moving below 30,000 for the first time since January 2021. The broad-based S&P 500 fell 3.3%, down 6% over the course of the week, which would be its worst weekly performance since March 2020, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite suffered the most, dropping 4.1%.

The losses followed the biggest U.S. rate rise since 1994, the first such Swiss move in 15 years, as well as a fifth rise in British rates since December. The Bank of Japan was the only outlier, sticking with its strategy of pinning 10-year yields near zero on Friday.

Market positioning suggests more pain for equities ahead, according to investment flows collated by analysts at Bank of America.

"Capitulation has been in credit and crypto, not stocks," the bank's analysts said in a note. "This is why we worry equity lows (are) not yet in."

U.S. data this week for May have already hinted at an economic slowdown, with retail sales falling for the first time in five months while both building permits and housing starts fell to their lowest level since last October.

Attention on Friday will turn to industrial and manufacturing production data for May, which are expected to show the slowest growth since December, as well as a speech by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.

In corporate news, Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) will be in the spotlight after the software giant provided disappointing full-year guidance after the close Thursday, citing foreign exchange volatility and the war in Ukraine for the shortfall.

Streaming content provider Roku (NASDAQ:ROKU) will also be in focus after it announced an e-commerce partnership with retail giant Walmart (NYSE:WMT), as will Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) after reports of sharp price hikes for some of its cars.

Oil prices edged higher Friday but are still on course for the first weekly decline since April as aggressive monetary tightening raised fears of significant demand destruction.

Elsewhere, the U.S. imposed sanctions Thursday on a series of companies that help export Iran's petrochemicals, a move aimed at pressuring Tehran to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

Weekly numbers from Baker Hughes detailing the number of U.S. crude rigs in operation as well as CFTC positioning data close the week, as usual. 

By 7 AM ET, U.S. crude futures traded 0.3% higher at $117.97 a barrel, while the Brent contract rose 0.4% to $120.32. 

Additionally, gold futures fell 0.1% to $1,847.95/oz, while EUR/USD traded 0.2% lower at 1.0523.

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