Wall Street Might Open Moderately Higher

(RTTNews) - Geopolitical tensions in the Middle East remain high as a final decision regarding the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz remains unresolved going into Friday.

Oil prices traded higher. Brent crude futures edged up by 0.3 percent toward $83 a barrel.

Gold climbed above $4,300 an ounce. Spot gold jumped 1.8 percent to $4,316.95 an ounce.

Early signs from the U.S. Futures Index sugges that Wall Street might open moderately up.

As of 7.55 am ET, the Dow futures were up137.00 points, the S&P 500 futures were adding 16.50 points and the Nasdaq 100 futures were progressing 60.00 points.

The U.S. major averages all finished Thursday in negative territory. The Dow slumped 464.02 points or 0.9 percent to 53,885.10, the S&P 500 dipped 13.59 points or 0.2 percent to 7,709.96 and the Nasdaq edged down 15.09 points or 0.1 percent to 26,348.35.

On the economic front, the Employment Situation for July will be released at 8.30 am ET. The consensus for non-farm payrolls is 88,000, while it was up 57,000 in the prior month. Unemployment rate is projected to be up 4.2 percent, while it was up 4.2 percent in the prior month. The monthly payroll consensus is 90,000, while it was up 49,000 in the prior month. Average monthly hours earnings is expected to be up 0.3 percent, with average workweek of 34.3 hours.

The Baker Hughes Rig Count for the week is scheduled at 1.00 pm ET. In the prior week, the North America rig count was 807 and the U.S. rig count was 588.

The Consumer Credit for June will be published at 3.00 pm ET. The consensus is for an increase of $10.5 billion, while it was a decline of $0.2 billion.

The Richmond Fed President Thomas Barkin will participate virtually in fireside chat on the economy, leadership, and the evolving role of the Federal Reserve before event hosted by the National Association for Business Economics.

Asian stocks ended mixed on Friday. China's Shanghai Composite index rallied 1.02 percent to 3,940.04. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index closed up 0.54 percent at 25,668.03.

Japanese markets ended slightly lower. The Nikkei average slipped 0.12 percent to 65,606.71, while the broader Topix index settled 0.47 percent higher at 4,074.93.

Australian markets finished marginally lower.