Stock futures jump ahead of earnings, economic reports
U.S. stock futures were trading higher early Friday ahead of the release of a slew of economic data.
As of 5:45 a.m. ET, futures tied to the blue-chip Dow suggested a gain of 79 cents, or 0.23% to 34,107. S&P 500 futures rose 9.63 points, or 0.23% to 4,163.88 while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures climbed 35.38 points, or 0.26% to 13,521.88.
Traders are awaiting the release of existing home sales data for April, which is due at 10:00 a.m. ET. Existing home sales are expected to have risen to a 6.085 million annual pace in April compared with 6.010 million rate in the previous month.
Meanwhile, the flash Composite Purchasing Managers’ Index for May is due at 9:45 a.m. ET. Expectations are for manufacturing index to drop slightly to 60.5 in May from previous reading of 60.6. Services index is projected to rise to 64.5 from 63.1.
More earnings eyed
The parade of corporate earnings continues Friday, Foot Locker (NYSE: FL) reported first-quarter net income of $202 million. The athletic shoe and apparel retailer said it had earnings of $1.96 per share, well above Wall Street expectations.
Deere (NYSE: DE) and Booz Allen Hamilton (NYSE: BAH) will also report ahead of the opening bell.
Shares of Applied Materials (NASDAQ: AMAT) ticked up 1.13% in pre-market trading hours after the semiconductor-equipment supplier late Thursday posted upbeat second-quarter results and provided a solid guidance for the current period.
Biden administration unveils stricter cryptocurrency rules
On the crypto front, the U.S. Treasury Department has announced that any cryptocurrency transfer worth at least $10,000 will have to be reported to the Internal Revenue Service.
The move, announced a day after the China Banking Association cautioned member banks of dangers associated with cryptocurrencies, is part of a wide set of rules aimed at reducing tax evasion.
“Cryptocurrency already poses a significant detection problem by facilitating illegal activity broadly including tax evasion. This is why the President’s (Joe Biden) proposal includes additional resources for the IRS to address the growth of cryptoassets,” the department said in a statement on Thursday.
Bitcoin, the world’s most valuable digital currency, has lost nearly 40% since reaching a record of nearly $65,000 in April.
U.S. calls for 15% global minimum corporate tax
Treasury Department officials also said Thursday that the Biden administration has offered to accept a global tax on multinational corporations of at least 15% in the latest round of international tax discussions.
The proposal was made during a meeting of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), according to the department.
That is lower than what the administration has proposed as a new U.S. corporate tax rate and what it has pushed as the minimum tax on U.S. multinational businesses. Biden has called for raising the corporate tax rate to 28% from its current 21% as part of his tax plan.
The president’s tax plan previously called for raising the minimum tax on U.S. multinational businesses to 21% from 10.5%, which would be calculated on a country-by-country basis.
