Stock futures were setting up for a bounce on Friday in a hard left turn to the selloff that punished Wall Street a day earlier.
S&P 500 futures were up 0.54%, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures added 0.46%, and Nasdaq futures gained 0.56%.
Stocks have had a rocky week, rallying on Wednesday on signs of a dovish Federal Reserve and selling off on Thursday alongside crude oil. Investors have shown weariness ahead of the kickoff to first-quarter earnings season next week. The Dow suffered its worst loss in six weeks on Thursday, plummeting 174 points or 1%.
The "economy has made tremendous progress in recovering from the damage from the financial crisis," Yellen said at a panel discussion at the International House of New York on Thursday night. "Slowly but surely, the labor market is healing. For well over a year, we've averaged about 225,000 jobs a month, the unemployment rate now stands at 5%, and we're coming close to our assigned congressional goal of maximum employment."
Crude oil prices bounced above $38 a barrel again on Friday after another dip a day earlier. Investors hope a weekly read on active U.S. oil rigs out later in the day will show a decline, a relief to a current supply glut. Commodity traders were also on high alert ahead of next week's meeting between Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries members which will hopefully result in a production freeze. West Texas Intermediate was up 4% to $38.73 a barrel.
The first-quarter earnings season will kick off in earnest on Monday afternoon when unofficial bell-ringer Alcoa (AA - Get Report) reports. Uncertainty over how major companies fared over the quarter kept bulls on the sidelines and pushed bears to sell.
"As we start to kick in to earnings season there's going to be anxiety," Matt Kaufler, portfolio manager at Federated Investors, told TheStreet. "There's a general skepticism that [earnings] are perhaps steady but they'll be unenthusiastic. Steady but uninspiring."
The early prognosis on companies' quarterly performances doesn't look good. S&P 500 earnings are expected to fall 7.9% in the first quarter, their third straight quarter in decline and their losing streak worst since mid-2009. Excluding the energy sector, earnings are forecast to fall 3.6%.
Gap (GPS) plummeted 8.6% in premarket trading after reporting a 6% slump in same-store sales in March to $1.43 billion. The retailer had reported a 2% increase over the same period a year earlier. Banana Republic was the worst performer, tumbling 14% compared to a 3% decrease in March last year.
Yahoo! (YHOO - Get Report) added more than 1% before the bell on reports Verizon (VZ - Get Report) will move forward with a bid for its core business. AOL CEO Tim Armstrong would likely head Yahoo! if it became a Verizon property.
Alliance Fiber Optic Products (AFOP - Get Report) surged 17.7% after Corning (GLW - Get Report) agreed to purchase the optical tech manufacturer. The all-cash deal for $18.50 a share represents a total value of around $305 million.
Anavex Life Sciences (AVXL) jumped more than 14% after announcing its Alzheimer treatment had received orphan drug designation from the Food and Drug Administration. The designation provides the drugmaker with development and commercial incentives, including seven years of market exclusivity in the U.S. and certain exemptions from or reductions in regulatory fees.
DepoMed (DEPO) added 12.3% after activist investor Starboard Value disclosed a 9.8% stake. The firm, now the pharmaceutical company's third-largest shareholder, said it intends to nominate board members and also questioned DepMed's "serious corporate governance deficiencies [and] questionable capital allocation decisions."
By Keris Alison Lahiff
Source:http://www.thestreet.com/story/13522986/1/stock-futures-set-for-bounce-in-whiplash-end-to-week.html
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