US pre-open: Futures in the green ahead of June consumer sentiment data

Wall Street futures were in the green ahead of the bell on Friday, putting major indices on track for a winning week.

As of 1230 BST, Dow Jones futures were up 0.69%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures had the indices opening 0.78% and 0.95% firmer, respectively.

The Dow closed 194.23 points higher on Thursday as market participants watched the second day of Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell's testimony in Washington.

Friday's primary focus will be the University of Michigan's June consumer sentiment index at 1500 BST after Powell stated an unexpected drop in the preliminary reading was a factor in the central bank's decision to hike its benchmark interest rate by three-quarters of a percentage point earlier in the month.

AvaTrade's Naeem Aslam said: "US and European futures are trading higher as bargain hunting is taking place. The Nasdaq index, which has been driving the markets lower for the past number of months and quarters, has found some love among investors and traders, and it was the Nasdaq index that actually pulled the US markets out of its negative territory to a positive one.

"There is no doubt that the entire tech sector is higher oversold, and there are some great bargains and traders are finding it difficult to resist, especially when stocks like Meta and Netflix are down over 70% from their recent highs."

In addition to the UoM data, May's new home sales numbers will also be published at 1500 BST.

In the corporate space, Carnival Corp will report earnings before the opening bell.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com