Futures were soaring into Friday's open after the Bank of Japan surprised global financial markets by voting in favor of pouring more money into the Japanese economy, plagued by persistent deflation and sluggish growth. In addition, Japan's massive Government Pension Investment Fund disclosed plans to more than double its holdings of foreign securities, while at the same time trimming its domestic holdings to 35% from 60%. As a result, the Nikkei skyrocketed by close to 5%, sending global equities as much as 2% higher.
Futures were also getting a boost from upbeat earnings from Dow component stock Exxon Mobile (XOM), while the Nasdaq is outperforming as a result of better-than-expected earnings from GoPro (GPRO), Groupon (GRPN) and LinkedIn (LNKD).
Because of the impact from the BOJ action and subsequent reaction across the globe, today's economic data is unlikely to put much of a dent in the direction of U.S. equities. September consumer income missed estimates with a 0.2% gain, while spending was unexpectedly softer than expected, falling 0.2% compared to a +0.1% forecast. Inflation was tame as the price index and core index were both only up by 0.1%.
Another inflation barometer, the employment cost index, increased 0.7% for Q3, beating estimates of +0.5%.
The remaining data includes the October Chicago PMI (expected unchanged at 60.5), and the final read on Reuters/Univ of MI September consumer sentiment index (exp 86.4, unchanged from the preliminary).
-Dow Jones Industrial up 1.01%
-S&P 500 futures up 1.04%
-Nasdaq 100 futures up 1.49%
SENTIMENT
Nikkei up 4.83%
Hang Seng up 1.25
Shanghai Composite up 1.25%
FTSE-100 up 1.09%
DAX-30 up 1.93%
PRE-MARKET SECTOR WATCH
(+/-) Large cap tech: Higher
(+/-) Chip stocks: Higher
(+/-) Software stocks: Higher
(+/-) Hardware stocks: Higher
(+/-) Internet stocks: Higher
(+/-) Drug stocks: Higher
(+/-) Financial stocks: Higher
(+/-) Retail stocks: Higher
(+/-) Industrial stocks: Higher
(+/-) Airlines: Higher
(+/-) Autos Higher
UPSIDE MOVERS:
(+) ONNN (+6.37%) Reported better-than-expected revenue and above-consensus revenue guidance
(+) GPRO (+15.49%) Beat Q3 expectations and issued strong Q4 forecast
(+) SRPT (+13.48) Receives FDA letter to continue supporting Serepta's efforts to get Eteplirsen approved
(+) MELI (+16.32%) Beat Q3 earnings estimates
(+) IMPV (+17.76%) Reported a narrower than expected loss, beats on revenue
DOWNSIDE MOVERS:
(-) AEGR (-32.13%) Reported a Q3 loss and lowered FY14 revenue guidance
(-) COMM (-7.48%) Issued a downbeat Q4 forecast
(-) SBUX (-3.30%) Reported in-line results but guidance below-expectations
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