Wall Street Looks Headed For Positive Start

(RTTNews) - Higher futures point to a firm start for U.S. stocks Friday morning, but data on the nation's personal consumption expenditure for the month of December holds the key for the market's trend.

A reading of Chicago business barometer, the Chicago PMI, is also due this morning.

On the earnings front, Chevron Corp. reported fourth-quarter earnings of $3.239 billion, or $1.84 per share, compared with $2.259 billion, or $1.22 per share in the year-ago quarter.

Exxon Mobil Corp reported fourth-quarter earnings of $7.610 billion, or $1.72 per share, compared with $7.630 billion, or $1.91 per share a year ago.

Apple Inc. reported a net income of $36.33 billion in the first quarter, higher than previous year's $33.92 billion. The company expects March quarter total revenue to grow low to mid single digits year-over-year, and gross margins to be between 46.5 percent and 47.5 percent.

The major averages closed higher on Thursday after swinging back and forth across the unchanged line with investors reacting to mixed earnings news from big name companies.

The Dow climbed 168.61 points or 0.4 percent to 44,882.13, ending the day within striking distance of the record closing high set in early December.

The S&P 500 also advanced 31.86 points or 0.5 percent to 6,071.17, while the Nasdaq rose 49.43 points or 0.3 percent to 19,681.75.

Stocks struggled a bit in late afternoon trades after President Donald Trump said he would follow through on his threat to impose 25 percent tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico on Saturday, February 1st.

In overseas trading, Asian stocks closed higher following encouraging earnings updates from Apple and Intel.

The major European markets are up in positive territory, reacting to some encouraging earnings news, and on optimism about more monetary easing by central banks.

In commodities, West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures are up $0.15 or 0.2 percent, at $72.88 a barrel, and gold futures are up marginally at $2,845.90 an ounce.

In the currency market, the dollar is rising against its major counterparts. The dollar index is up firmly at 108.23. Against the euro, the dollar is trading at 1.0392, and against the Japanese currency, is at 154.88 yen.