U.S. Stocks Likely To Move Back To The Upside In Early Trading

(RTTNews) - Following the sharp pullback seen in the previous session, stocks are likely to move back to the upside in early trading on Friday. The major index futures are currently pointing to a higher open for the markets, with the S&P 500 futures up by 0.7 percent.

The upward momentum on Wall Street comes as traders continue to keep a close eye on the latest developments on the tariff front.

The futures had moved to the downside following news China plans to increase tariffs on U.S. imports to 125 percent beginning Saturday.

The 125 percent would match the tariff on China goods announced by President Donald Trump earlier this week, although a White House official told CNBC the effective rate is 145 percent when combined with a 20 percent fentanyl-related tariff.

However, the negative sentiment was offset by news that the European Union is suspending its planned countermeasures to Trump's tariffs for 90 days.

European Commission trade spokesperson Olof Gill also told Ireland's RTE radio European Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic will travel to Washington on Sunday to "try and sign deals."

The markets may also benefit from a positive reaction to earnings news from financial giants JPMorganChase (JPM), Morgan Stanley (MS) and Wells Fargo (WFC).

Shares of JPMorganChase, Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo are all seeing pre-market strength after the companies reported better than expected quarterly earnings.

Additionally, on the heels of yesterday's report showing a surprise dip by U.S. consumer prices, the Labor Department released a separate report on Friday showing U.S. producer prices also unexpectedly decreased in the month of March.

The Labor Department said its producer price index for final demand fell by 0.4 percent in March after inching up by a revised 0.1 percent in February.

Economists had expected producer prices to rise by 0.2 percent compared to the unchanged reading originally reported for the previous month.

The report also showed the annual rate of producer price growth slowed to 2.7 percent in March from 3.2 percent in February. The annual rate of price growth was expected to creep up to 3.3 percent.

Shortly after the start of trading, the University of Michigan is due to release its preliminary reading on consumer sentiment in the month of April. The consumer sentiment index is expected to fall to 54.5 in April after plunging to 57.0 in March.

Following an historic rally over the course of Wednesday's session, stocks showed a substantial move back to the downside during trading on Thursday. The major averages all posted steep losses but remain well off their recent lows.

The major averages ended the day off their worst levels but still sharply lower. The Nasdaq plunged 737.66 points or 4.3 percent to 16,387.31, the S&P 500 tumbled 188.85 points or 3.5 percent to 5,268.05 and the Dow slumped 1,014.79 points or 2.5 percent to 39,593.66.

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in a mixed performance during trading on Friday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index dove by 3.0 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index jumped by 1.1 percent.

The major European markets have also turned mixed on the day, While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index is up by 0.5 percent, the French CAC 40 Index is down by 0.5 percent and the German DAX Index is down by 1.3 percent.

In commodities trading, crude oil futures are inching up $0.16 to $60.23 a barrel after plunging $2.28 to $60.07 a barrel on Thursday. Meanwhile, after soaring $98.10 to $3,177.50 an ounce in the previous session, gold futures are surging $64.80 to $3,242.30 an ounce.

On the currency front, the U.S. dollar is trading at 142.87 yen versus the 144.45 yen it fetched at the close of New York trading on Thursday. Against the euro, the dollar is valued at $1.1351 compared to yesterday's $1.1201.