Stock futures point to ending the week on a high note

Laffer: Markets are ‘substantially overvalued’

Former Reagan economist Art Laffer on inflation, jobs and today’s markets.

U.S. equity futures are pointing to a higher open to end the week.

The major futures indexes suggest a gain of 0.4% when the Friday trading session begins on Wall Street.

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Company earnings reports will continue to roll out to end the week. Traders will digest earnings from American Express, Honeywell and Kimberly-Clark.

In Europe, London's FTSE added 0.8%, Germany's DAX gained 0.7% and France's CAC was up 0.9%.

Asian markets were mixed on Friday after major indexes edged higher on Wall Street, preserving their gains for the week.

The Hang Seng in Hong Kong lost 1.5%  and China's Shanghai Composite gave up 0.7%.

Tokyo was closed for a holiday.

The declines came as Bloomberg reported regulators were planning more penalties for ride-sharing giant Didi, whose shares in New York sank 11.3% on Thursday.

On Thursday, the S&P 500 rose 0.2% to 4,367.48. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.1% to 34,823.35. The Nasdaq composite gained 0.4% to 14,684.60.

All three indexes remain close to the all-time highs they set early last week.

Gains by Apple, Microsoft and other big technology stocks helped offset declines for banks, energy companies and industrial stocks.

Hints about when the Federal Reserve may begin to unwind some of the support that’s helped keep the economy going during the pandemic, now that inflation is on the rise, is expected from a two-day policy making meeting next week.

INITIAL JOBLESS CLAIMS UNEXPECTEDLY CLIMB OFF PANDEMIC-ERA LOWS

The Labor Department reported unemployment claims rose last week to 419,000, the most in two months and more than economists were expecting. Economists said it was most likely a blip caused by some one-time factors and partly a result of the inevitable bumpiness in the week-to-week data.

Investors are nervous about the risk that the more contagious delta variant of COVID-19, which is spreading rapidly, might disrupt the recovery from last year's pandemic shocks.

The 10-year Treasury note's yield rose to 1.28% from 1.26% Thursday. 

Homebuilders mostly fell after the National Association of Realtors said sales of previously occupied U.S. homes rose in June after a four-month pullback. The June data also showed the median U.S. home price hit a record high last month, reflecting an increase in sales of higher-end homes, while sales of properties under $150,000 declined.

Shares of Twitter jumped more than 5% in premarket trading after the company reported earnings and revenue that topped expectations, helped by growing advertising demand.

The company earned $65.6 million, or 8 cents per share, up from a loss of $1.38 billion, or $1.75 per share, a year earlier.

Revenue jumped 74% to $1.19 billion from $683.4 million, surpassing Wall Street's expectations.

Intel shares were under pressure after CEO Pat Gelsinger said the industry is facing a protracted chip-shortage that could last another two years. Quarterly earnings and revenue were better-than-expected.

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In other trading Friday, U.S. benchmark crude oil slipped 4 cents to $71.87 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It surged $1.61 to $71.91 on Thursday. Brent crude, the international pricing standard, shed 11 cents to $73.70 per barrel.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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