Wall Street Set To Open Moderately Higher

(RTTNews) - Consumer price inflation in September and the Consumer Sentiment for December will be released on Friday.

Early trends on the U.S. Futures Index suggest that Wall Street might open moderately higher.

In the Asian trading session, a softer dollar helped lift gold prices. Crude oil prices were little changed.

Asian shares finished broadly up, while European shares are trading higher.

As of 7.25 am ET, the Dow futures were gaining 45.00 points, the S&P 500 futures were adding 12.00 points and the Nasdaq 100 futures were up 82.75 points.

The U.S. major averages finished mostly up on Thursday. The Nasdaq rose 51.04 points or 0.2 percent to 23,505.14 and the S&P 500 inched up 7.40 points or 0.1 percent to 6,857.12, the narrower Dow edged down 31.96 points or 0.1 percent to 47,850.94.

On the economic front, delayed Personal Income and Outlays for September will be released at 10.00 am ET. The consensus for personal income is an increase of 0.4 percent.

The Consumer Sentiment for December will be issued at 10.00 am ET. The consensus is 52.0, while it was up 51.0 in the prior month.

The Factory Orders for October will be released at 10.00 am ET. In the prior month, the Orders were up 0.2 percent.

The Baker Hughes Rig Count for the week will be published at 1.00 pm ET. In the prior week, the North America rig count was 732, while the U.S. rig count was 544.

The Consumer Credit for October is expected at 3.00 pm ET. The consensus is for an increase of $9.4 billion, while it was up $13.1 billion in the prior month.

Asian stocks ended mixed on Friday. China's Shanghai Composite index surged 0.70 percent to 3,902.81. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index ended up 0.58 percent at 26,085.08.

Japanese markets led regional losses. The Nikkei average fell 1.05 percent to 50,491.87

Australian markets eked out modest gains. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 edged up by 0.19 percent to 8,634.60 while the broader All Ordinaries index closed up 0.22 percent at 8,926.10.

European shares are trading positive. Among the major indexes in the region, the CAC 40 Index of France is gaining 29.56 points or 0.36 percent. The German DAX is adding 154.34 points or 0.65 percent, the U.K. FTSE 100 Index is gaining 8.90 points or 0.09 percent.

The Swiss Market Index is progressing 28.78 points or 0.22 percent.

The Euro Stoxx 50 Index, which is a compilation of 50 blue chip stocks across the euro area, is up 23.29 points or 0.41 percent.