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 The benchmark S&P 500 posted its biggest one-day gain since early
February on Thursday, a rally that offset the biggest one-day loss
since early January on Tuesday.
Equities have recently been driven by the U.S. dollar, with the S&P
having a high inverse correlation to the currency. Thursday's equity
rally corresponded with the biggest one-day drop in the U.S. dollar
index <.DXY> in a month.
The dollar index has risen almost 2 percent this week, and is on
track for a fourth week of gains. Investors see the continued
strength in the greenback as a threat to multinational corporate
profits. The index rose 0.1 percent on Friday.
Wall Street has also been focused on when the Federal Reserve will
raise interest rates, with some strong economic data recently
suggesting the first hike could come as early as June. Higher rates
tend to raise borrowing costs for companies and individuals and
crimp spending, though strong indicators are seen as better for the
market in the long term.
Trading could be volatile ahead of next week's Fed meeting, when the
central bank could provide further insight into when the first rate
increase will come.
A preliminary read on March consumer sentiment will be released
after the market opens, with the University of Michigan Surveys of
Consumers seen essentially holding steady with the previous report.
Crude oil fell 1.7 percent, which could weigh on energy names.
The commodity has fallen in six of the past seven sessions.
Walt Disney Co will be in focus after the company said it had
started work on a sequel to "Frozen," the best-selling animated
movie of all time. Shares rose 0.5 percent to $107.70 in premarket.
FXCM Inc jumped 15 percent to $2.48 in heavy premarket trading a day
after the company reported fourth-quarter earnings that beat
expectations. This was the currency broker's first quarterly report
since the removal of the cap on the Swiss franc sparked massive
losses that pushed it to take a rescue loan.
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The Dow is on track for a weekly rise of 0.2 percent while the
Nasdaq is on track for a drop of 0.7 percent. The S&P is down 0.3
percent on the week, and if the benchmark index ends negative for
the week, that will mark its third straight weekly decline. Still,
Thursday's rally lifted the Dow and S&P back into positive territory
for 2015, and the S&P is 2.4 percent from its record closing high.
Futures snapshot at 7:40 a.m. EDT (1140 GMT):
* S&P 500 e-minis were up 0.25 point, or 0.01 percent, with 92,048
contracts changing hands.
* Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 2.5 points, or 0.06 percent, in volume
of 9,952 contracts.
* Dow e-minis were up 6 points, or 0.03 percent, with 7,825
contracts changing hands.
(Editing by Bernadette Baum)
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