NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks were set to firm at the open on Friday after the S&P 500 climbed to a five-year high a day earlier, as record profit from Wells Fargo failed to excite investors who awaited fresh trading incentives.
"The bigger news lies ahead of us in terms of earnings and also reports on Christmas sales, which seem to be poor so far," said Rick Meckler, president of investment firm LibertyView Capital Management in Jersey City, New Jersey.
Wells Fargo
Best Buy
Basic materials shares could be pressured after China's annual consumer inflation rate picked up to a seven-month high, narrowing the scope for the central bank to boost the economy by easing monetary policy.
Meckler said that in the absence of major news, the market will continue to absorb some of the money that comes in from institutional investors at the start of the year. This could give equities an upside bias.
S&P 500 futures were flat and were slightly above fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures added 3 points and Nasdaq 100 futures rose 2 points.
American Express said it would take a $600-million quarterly charge relating to 5,400 job cuts and payment of legal bills, a move likely to halve its net income. Its shares dipped 0.5 percent in premarket trading to $60.51.
Boeing's
Dendreon Corp
U.S.-traded shares of India's No.2 software services provider Infosys Ltd
In a move that could support US equities and boost the global economic outlook, the Japanese government approved a massive $117 billion of spending to revive the world's third-largest economy in the biggest stimulus plan since the financial crisis.
(Editing by Bernadette Baum)
Wall Street to open firm after Thursday's gains, Wells Fargo results
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Wall Street to open firm after Thursday's gains, Wells Fargo results