Wall Street Might Open In Red

(RTTNews) - Early cues from the U.S. Futures Index suggest that Wall Street might open significantly down on Friday. Investors are monitoring geopolitical developments. Inflation fears and AI scare are influencing market sentiments. In the Asian trading session, gold held steady a tad below $5,200 an ounce, while oil prices edged up slightly.

As of 7.35 am ET, the Dow futures were losing 344.00 points, the S&P 500 futures were down 36.00 points and the Nasdaq 100 futures were sliding 133.00 points.

The U.S. major averages finished broadly up. The Nasdaq climbed well off its early lows but still slumped 273.69 points or 1.2 percent to 22,878.38. The S&P 500 also fell 37.27 points or 0.5 percent to 6,908.86, but the narrower Dow inched up 17.05 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 49,499.20.

On the economic front, the PPI-Final Demand for January will be released at 8.30 am ET. The consensus is for an increase of 0.3 percent, while it was up 0.5 percent in the prior month.

The Institute for Supply Management - Chicago's PMI for February will be published at 9.45 am ET. The consensus is 52.5, while it was up 54.0 in the prior month.

The Construction Spending for November will be released at 10.00 am ET. The consensus is 0.3 percent.

The Baker Hughes Rig Count for the week is scheduled at 1.00 pm ET. The North America rig count was 775, while the U.S. rig count was 551.

The Agriculture Department's Farm Prices will be revealed at 3.00 pm ET.

Asian markets ended mostly higher on Friday. China's Shanghai Composite index ended up 0.39 percent at 4,162.88. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index surged 0.95 percent to 26,630.54.

Japanese markets eked out modest gains. The Nikkei average edged up by 0.16 percent to 58,850.27. The broader Topix index jumped 1.50 percent to 3,938.68.

Australian markets ended higher. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 inched up by 0.25 percent to 9,198.60 while the broader All Ordinaries index settled 0.29 percent higher at 9,435.60.