US pre-open: Futures mixed after S&P 500 notches another record close

As of 1220 BST, Dow Jones and S&P 500 futures were up 0.22% and 0.12%, respectively, while Nasdaq-100 futures were 0.07% in the red.

The Dow closed 57.31 points higher on Thursday despite comments from Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell that the US recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic remained "uneven and incomplete". At a virtual event hosted by the International Monetary Fund, Powell indicated that a more robust recovery was needed and stated the "unevenness" was something the central bank viewed as "a very serious issue".

Also in focus was news that China's factory gate prices rose at their fastest annual pace since July 2018 last month, with the nation's producer price index rising 4.4% year-on-year and the consumer price index ticking up 0.4%, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

IG's Joshua Mahony said: "Inflation remains a key concern going forward, and overnight data out of China did little to allay fears that overheating could cause a withdrawal in accommodative measures. A jump in both CPI and PPI readings did little to help Chinese stocks overnight, yet commentary from Jerome Powell did help allay fears that a rise in prices would spark any drastic action from the Fed.

"Instead, Powell provided a supportive assessment of future policy, with the average inflation targeting strategy allowing the Fed to remain accommodative in the face of rising prices."

On the macro front, March's producer price index will be published at 1230 BST, while February's wholesale inventories report will follow at 1400 BST.

In the corporate space, reopening plays were in the green ahead of the bell, with the likes of General Electric, Carnival Corp and JPMorgan all up around 1%, while "stay-at-home" winners like Apple and Netflix traded lower.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note also ticked up to around 1.676%.