Investing.com – Wall Street was set to open higher on Friday, as Congress rushes to pass a spending bill and avert a government shutdown.
The S&P 500 futures rose eight points or 0.30% to 2,804.75 as of 6:53 AM ET (11:53 GMT) while Dow futures increased 97 points or 0.37% to 26,038.0. Meanwhile tech heavy Nasdaq 100 futures gained 33 points or 0.48% to 6,846.00.
Congress has until 12:00 AM ET (5:00 GMT) to pass a spending bill before the government shuts down. The House of Representatives voted 230-197 on Thursday night for a bill to extend expiring funding through Feb. 16 but disagreements between Republicans and Democrats over immigration legislation threatens to collapse the Senate version of the bill.
Telecommunications firm Nokia (HE:NOKIA) was among the top performers in pre-market trading, rising 1.45% while payments firm Square Inc (NYSE:SQ) increased 3.82% and beer company Anheuser-Busch Inbev SA (NYSE:BUD) gained 1.13%.
Elsewhere computer manufacturing firm IBM (NYSE:IBM) slipped 3.03% despite reporting an increase in growth for the first time in 22 quarters. Health company GNC Holdings Inc (NYSE:GNC) was down 1.14% while HSBC Holdings (LON:HSBA) PLC ADR (NYSE:HSBC) inched down 0.49%.
In economic news, consumer sentiment is released at 10:00 AM ET (15:00 GMT). Investors will also be watching out for earnings reports on Friday, with financial results from Citizens Financial Group Inc (NYSE:CFG), SunTrust Banks Inc (NYSE:STI) and Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF) among those expected to report their earnings later in the day.
In Europe stocks were up. Germany’s DAX rose 132 points or 0.99% while in France the CAC 40 increased 26 points or 0.49% and in London, the FTSE 100 was up 21 points or 0.28%. Meanwhile the pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 gained 30 points or 0.84% while Spain’s IBEX 35 rose 44 points or 0.42%.
In commodities, gold futures rallied 0.54% to $1,334.40 a troy ounce while crude oil futures fell 0.80% to $63.44 a barrel. The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, decreased 0.10% to 90.22.