BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - On a quiet day of economic
announcements, the leading economic indicators in April might get special
attention on Friday.

Early trends on the U.S. Futures Index suggest that Wall Street might open
slightly up.

In the Asian session, gold and oil recorded modest gains.

As of 8.00 am ET, the Dow futures were up 5.00 points, the S&P 500 futures were
adding 1.50 points and the Nasdaq 100 futures were progressing 18.75 points.

The U.S. major averages finished lower on Thursday. The Dow climbed above 40,000
for the first time in morning trading, the blue chip index ended the day down
38.62 points or 0.1 percent to 39,869.38. The S&P 500 dipped 11.05 points or 0.2
percent to 5,297.10 and the Nasdaq fell 44.07 points or 0.3 percent to
16,698.32.

On the economic front, the E-Commerce retail sales for the first quarter will be
released at 10.00 am ET. In the prior quarter, the retail sales were up 0.8
percent.

The Leading Indicators for April will be published at 10.00 am ET. The consensus
is for a decline of 0.3 percent, while it was down 0.3 percent in February.

The Baker Hughes Rig Count for the week will be issued at 1.00 pm ET. In the
prior week, the North America rig count was 719, while the U.S. rig count was
603.

Fed Governor Christopher Waller will speak on payments innovation, technical
standards and the Fed's roles at the International Organization for
Standardization Technical Committee 68 Financial Services 44th Plenary Meeting
at 10.15 am ET.

San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly will give commencement address at the
University of San Francisco School of Management at 12.15 pm ET.

Asian stocks ended mixed on Friday. Chinese markets rallied.

China's Shanghai Composite index surged 1.01 percent to 3,154.03 while Hong
Kong's Hang Seng index climbed 0.91 percent to 19,553.61.

Japanese markets finished lower. The Nikkei average dipped 0.34 percent to
38,787.38 while the broader Topix index closed 0.30 percent higher at 2,745.62.

Australian stocks fell notably. The benchmark S&P ASX 200 fell 0.85 percent to
7,814.40 while the broader All Ordinaries index settled 0.83 percent lower at
8,082.30.



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