BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - Heightened projections of a potential global trade war is influencing investor sentiments on Friday. The additional tariff to be imposed on China, alongside sweeping 25 percent levies on Canadian and Mexican imports are actively discussed these days.
The Commerce Department's reports on personal income and spending in January might be the major announcement today.
As of 7.50 am ET, the Dow futures were up 179.00 points, the S&P 500 futures were progressing 13.50 points and the Nasdaq 100 futures were adding 16.50 points.
In the Asian trading session, Oil prices headed for their first monthly drop since November, while gold dipped.
The U.S. major averages finished lower on Thursday. The tech-heavy Nasdaq plunged 530.84 points or 2.8 percent to a nearly four-month closing low of 18,544.41.
The S&P 500 also slumped 94.49 points or 1.6 percent to a one-month closing low of 5,861.57, while the narrower Dow fell 193.62 points or 0.5 percent to a one-month closing low of 43,239.50.
On the economic front, the International Trade in Goods (Advance) for January will be issued at 8.30 am ET. The consensus is for a deficit of $116 billion, while the deficit was $122.1 billion in the prior month.
The Personal Income and Outlays for January will be released at 8.30 am ET. The consensus for personal income is an increase of 0.3 percent, while it was up 0.4 percent in the prior month.
The Retail Inventories (Advance) for January is scheduled at 8.30 am ET. The prior month inventories were down 0.3 percent.
The Wholesale Inventories (Advance) for January is expected at 8.30 am ET. In the prior month, the inventories were down 0.5 percent.
The Chicago PMI for February will be revealed at 9.45 am ET. The consensus is for an increase of 41.0, while it was up 39.5 in the prior month.
The Baker Hughes Rig Count for the week is expected at 1.00 pm ET. In the prior week, the North America rig count was 836 and the U.S. rig count was 592.
The Farm Prices for January will be published at 3.00 pm ET. In the prior month the prices were up 5.3 percent.
Asian stocks plummeted on Friday. China's Shanghai Composite index dipped 1.98 percent to 3,320.90 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng plummeted 3.28 percent to 22,941.32.
Japanese markets plunged amid tariff concerns. The Nikkei average tumbled 2.88 percent to 37,155.50.
The broader Topix index settled 1.98 percent lower at 2,682.09, pressured by selling of semiconductor-linked shares such as Advantest, Tokyo Electron and SoftBank Group.
Australian markets fell sharply. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 dipped 1.16 percent to 8,172.40 while the broader All Ordinaries index closed 1.20 percent lower at 8,403.90.
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