The benchmark US stock market indicators were showing positive movement before the market opened on Friday, with traders closely monitoring the upcoming personal income and outlays report for January. The Standard & Poor's 500 index saw a rise of 0.4%, while both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq recorded an increase of 0.3% in premarket trading.
In contrast, Asian stock exchanges were trending lower, and midday activity in Europe revealed that most bourses were also heading downward. The much-anticipated personal income report from last month, set to be released at 8:30 am ET, will include the personal consumption expenditure core price index, a key inflation metric favored by the Federal Reserve.
Additionally, Friday's economic calendar includes reports on international trade in goods, retail inventories, and wholesale inventories for January, all scheduled for release at 8:30 am. Following these, traders will be looking at the Chicago Purchasing Managers' Index data for February, which is due to be published at 9:45 am.
The week will round out with the Baker Hughes domestic oil-and-gas rig count, which will be announced at 1 pm, and last month's farm prices report slated for 3 pm. In other news, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago President Austan Goolsbee is expected to address the press at 10:15 pm, providing further insights into the central bank's views on the economy. In pre-market trading, Dell Technologies experienced a notable decrease of 3% as the computer manufacturer reported fourth-quarter revenues that fell below Wall Street’s expectations.
Conversely, Monster Beverage saw its shares increase by 2.1% after the energy drink company surpassed fourth-quarter sales predictions. HP’s stocks fell by 2.7% after the company released a cautious fiscal second-quarter revenue outlook. Other companies reporting their latest financial results early Friday include Pearson, Chart Industries, RadNet, Frontline, and fuboTV, among others. Before market opening, Bitcoin witnessed a decline of 3.1%, falling to $80,596, while the price of West Texas Intermediate crude oil dropped by 1.4%, settling at $73 a barrel.
Additionally, yields on 10-year Treasuries dipped by 2.9 basis points to 4.26%, and gold prices decreased by 0.8% to $2,874 an ounce..