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Stock futures ticked higher early Friday, as Wall Street looks complete its first weekly gain of the new year.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials zoomed 226 points, or 0.5%, to 43,598.
Futures for the S&P 500 Index grabbed 33 points, or 0.6%, to 6008.50.
Futures for the tech-heavy NASDAQ galloped 160.25 points, or 0.8%, to 21,410.
For the week, the Dow gained 2.9% and the S&P 500 is up 1.9%. That puts them on pace for their biggest weekly advance since the week of the U.S. presidential election in November. The NASDAQ Composite, up 0.9% week to date, is headed for its best one-week performance since early December.
Those gains come after investors received back-to-back reports showing inflationary pressures softening somewhat. The core consumer price index rose less than expected year on year, and the producer price index also had a smaller-than-anticipated increase for December.
J.B. Hunt Transport Services shares fell more than 7% after the company’s fourth-quarter earnings came in weaker than expected. J.B. Hunt earned $1.53 per share, below the LSEG consensus estimate of $1.61 per share. Meanwhile, revenue for the period came in line with expectations at $3.15 billion.
Qorvo rose more than 7% after The Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter, reported that activist investor Starboard Value has built a 7.7% stake in the company and is looking to make changes to boost the company’s share price.
Investors are also looking ahead to next week, as Donald Trump is set to be inaugurated as president for the second time. Stocks rallied right after his November electoral victory, as investors bet on deregulation and lower taxes.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 index sank 0.3%, while in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index gained 0.3%.
Oil prices sagged 46 cents to $78.22 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices fell $12.00 to $2,738.90 U.S. an ounce.
