With traders reacting positively to an upbeat batch of U.S. economic data, stocks may move to the upside at the start of trading on Friday. The major index futures are currently pointing to a modestly higher open for the markets, with the Dow futures up by 24 points.
The upward momentum for the markets comes following the release of two relatively strong economic reports from the Commerce Department, which have helped to ease some of the recent concerns about the outlook for the economy.
In a positive sign for the manufacturing industry, the Commerce Department said that new orders for durable goods rose by 1.9 percent in May following a revised 2.7 percent drop in April. Economists had been expecting orders to increase by a more modest 1.5 percent.
While the increase was due in large part to a jump in commercial aircraft orders, durable goods orders still rose 0.6 percent excluding orders for transportation equipment.
A separate report from the Commerce Department showed that U.S. gross domestic product grew by 1.9 percent in the first quarter, reflecting an upward revision from the 1.8 percent growth that had been reported previously.
The slightly stronger than previously estimated growth reflected an upward revision to inventory investment and a downward revision to imports, which are a subtraction in the calculation of GDP.
In corporate news, shares of Southern Union (SUG) are likely to move sharply higher in early trading after Williams (WMB) announced that it has offered to acquire the pipeline company for $39 per share or $8.7 billion in cash.
Williams said its proposal represents an 18 percent premium to the nominal purchase price in Southern Union's proposed transaction with Energy Transfer Equity.
Meanwhile, shares of Oracle (ORCL) are moving lower in pre-market trading even though the business software giant reported fourth quarter adjusted earnings of $0.75 per share on revenues of $10.78 billion, above analyst estimates for earnings of $0.71 per share on revenues of $10.75 billion.
While Oracle said new software license revenue rose 19 percent to $3.7 billion, it also said hardware systems product revenues fell 6 percent to $1.2 billion.
After seeing considerable weakness for much of the trading session on Thursday, stocks staged a significant recovery in late-day trading, ending the session mixed. Reports about a deal on Greece's austerity plan helped to offset concerns about the economic outlook.
The major averages all moved to the upside going into the close, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq climbing firmly into positive territory. The Nasdaq rose 17.56 points or 0.7 percent to 2,686.75, while the Dow fell 59.67 points or 0.5 percent at 12,050.00 and the S&P 500 slipped 3.64 points or 0.3 percent to 1,283.50.
While the Dow and the S&P 500 remained stuck in negative territory, they closed well off their worst levels of the day. The Dow was down more than 200 points at its low for the session.
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region closed mostly higher on Friday amid optimism about the situation in Greece. Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 Index rose by 0.9 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index surged up by 1.9 percent.
The major European markets have also moved to the upside on the day. The French CAC 40 Index is up by 1 percent, while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index and the German DAX Index are advancing by 0.9 percent and 0.7 percent, respectively.
In commodities trading, crude oil futures are rising $0.39 to $91.41 a barrel after plunging $4.39 to $91.02 a barrel on Thursday. Meanwhile, gold futures are falling $1.20 to $1,519.30 an ounce. In the previous session, the precious metal fell $32.90 to $1,520.50 an ounce.
On the currency front, the U.S. dollar is trading at 80.3095 yen compared to the 80.5123 yen it fetched at the close of New York trading on Thursday. Against the euro, the dollar is valued at $1.4227 compared to yesterday's $1.4256.
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