Futures Pointing To Continued Strength On Wall Street

(RTTNews) - Following the rally seen late in the previous session, stocks may see some further upside in early trading on Friday. The major index futures are currently pointing to a higher open for the markets, with the Dow futures up by 52 points.

The upward momentum for the markets comes as traders continue to digest yesterday's release of the minutes of the latest Federal Reserve meeting.

The minutes showed that Fed members were concerned about global growth risks and decided it was prudent to wait for additional information before raising interest rates. Combined with recent jobs and trade data, the minutes helped reinforce the view that the Fed will not raise rates later this month and may delay its first rate hike into next year.

Paul Ashworth, Chief U.S. Economist at Capital Economics, said, "Admittedly, there are still two employment reports scheduled for release before the FOMC meets in December."

"But at this stage we think it would take a major turnaround in payroll growth, to well above 200,000 per month, to persuade officials to support a December rate hike," he added.

The markets may also benefit from a continued rally by commodities prices, which is likely to contribute to strength among resource stocks.

Buying interest may be somewhat subdued, however, as traders look ahead to next week's release of earnings news from a number of big name companies.