Wall Street Poised To Open In Negative Territory

(RTTNews) - Earnings from major corporates might be in the spotlight on Friday.

Import and Export prices for December will be the major economic announcements today. A decline in U.S. inflation over the 12 months is a sign of hope, however, at the same time, the price decline of other items compared to energy is not at the same pace.

Early cues from the U.S. Futures Index suggest that Wall Street might open lower. As of 7.10 am ET, the Dow futures were sliding 102.00 points, the S&P 500 futures were declining 16.75 points and the Nasdaq 100 futures were down 65.75 points.

The U.S. major averages finished higher on Thursday. The Dow advanced 216.96 points or 0.6 percent to 34,189.97, the Nasdaq climbed 69.43 points or 0.6 percent to 11,001.10 and the S&P 500 rose 13.56 points or 0.3 percent to 3,983.17.

On the economic front, the Labor Department's Import and Export Prices for December will be issued at 8.30 am ET. The consensus for import prices is negative 0.9 percent, while it was down 0.6 percent in November. Export prices are expected down 0.7 percent, and in the prior month, the prices declined 0.3 percent.

The University of Michigan's Consumer Sentiment report for January is scheduled at 10.00 am ET. The consensus is 60.0, while it was up 59.7 in the previous month.

The Baker Hughes North American rig count for the week will be published at 1.00 pm ET. In the prior week, the North America rig count was 961 and the U.S. rig count was 772.

In the corporate sector, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Delta Airlines, Wells Fargo, BlackRock, and UnitedHealth have scheduled their quarterly reports on Friday.

Asian stocks gained at the close on Friday. Chinese shares ended sharply higher. The benchmark Shanghai Composite's gain continued and finished up 1.01 percent to 3,195.31.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index climbed 1.04 percent to 21,738.66.

Japanese shares were lower at the close of the session. The Nikkei index tumbled 1.25 percent to 26,119.52. The broader Topix index ended 0.27 percent lower at 1,903.08.

Australian markets finished higher. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.66 percent to close at 7,328.10 while the broader All Ordinaries index settled 0.67 percent higher at 7,540.10.

European shares are trading mostly higher. CAC 40 of France is progressing 23.04 points or 0.33 percent. DAX of Germany is adding 32.31 points or 0.22 percent. FTSE 100 of England is up 39.20 points or 0.50 percent. The Swiss Market Index is declining 2.72 points or 0.03 percent.

Euro Stoxx 50 which provides a Blue-chip representation of supersector leaders in the Eurozone, is up 0.43 percent.