By Johann M Cherian and Sukriti Gupta
(Reuters) -U.S. stock index futures edged higher on Friday, with the and the Dow looking set to log their biggest weekly advances since November, while investors awaited a wave of policy changes under the incoming Trump administration.
At 7:21 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were up 164 points, or 0.38%, S&P 500 E-minis were up 21.5 points, or 0.36% and E-minis were up 93.25 points, or 0.44%.
Better-than-expected earnings from major banks and signs that underlying inflation was cooling have prompted risk taking on Wall Street this week, putting the benchmark S&P 500 and the blue-chip Dow on track to log their steepest weekly rises since the U.S. election week.
The S&P 500 banking index and regional banks have outperformed the main indexes this week, logging advances of about 5.8% and 6.4%, respectively.
Also aiding risk sentiment was a dip in yields on longer-dated bonds that had touched more than 10-month highs earlier in the week. Yield on the benchmark 10-year note is now at a more than one-week low at 4.58%. [US/]
President-elect Donald Trump is expected to take over the White House on Monday and investors will be on edge for any insights into his plans on tax cuts, tariffs, loose regulations and immigration at his inauguration speech, that analysts widely expect could boost the economy.
The S&P 500 has gained nearly 3% to date since Election Day, while the dollar has jumped about 5%.
However, concerns prevail that his plans on tariffs and immigration could spark a trade war and fresh price pressures, which could force the Federal Reserve to stave off further monetary policy easing.
“On our math, (a stronger dollar) could cut first-quarter earnings growth by about 1.5 percentage points,” analysts at UBS said.
“However, we believe that part of the strong dollar risks have already been priced in and that the tariff impact is unlikely to be strong enough to derail healthy earnings growth.”
At a time when recent data points to a resilient economy, Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack said inflation remains a problem.
According to data compiled by LSEG, traders are expecting the central bank to leave interest rates on hold at its meeting later this month and see the first cut coming in June. They had all but priced out any rate cuts for 2025 earlier in the week.
Before markets open, investors will assess data on building permits, housing starts and industrial production for the month of December, that could help gauge the health of the world’s largest economy.
Eyes are also on developments around the ceasefire deal to the Middle East conflict, with the Israeli cabinet due to give final approval, following concerns the accord may be delayed.
Among others, Nvidia (NASDAQ:) gained 0.9% and Broadcom (NASDAQ:) rose 1.4% after Barclays (LON:) raised its price targets on the stocks.
SLB rose 2.2% after the oilfield services provider beat estimates for fourth-quarter profit, benefiting from higher demand for its drilling equipment and technology in North America and international markets.
Truist Financial (NYSE:) rose 2.9% after reporting a rise in fourth-quarter profit, as it earned more in interest payments.
