BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - Early cues from the U.S. Futures Index
suggest that Wall Street might open broadly down on Friday.

Asian shares finished mostly down, while European shares are trading positive.

In the Asian trading session, gold prices were set for a second straight weekly
gain on bets the Federal Reserve might cut interest rates in September.

As of 8.15 am ET, the Dow futures were down 30.00 points, the S&P 500 futures
were declining 0.50 points and the Nasdaq 100 futures were progressing 24.00
points.

On the economic front,the Employment Situation for June will be released at 8.30
am ET. The consensus is 189,000, while it was up 272,000 in the prior month. The
Unemployment Rate is expected to be up 4.0 percent, while it was up 4 percent in
the prior month.

The Baker Hughes Rig Count for the week is scheduled at 1.00 pm ET. The North
America rig ocunt was 757 and the U.S. rig count was 581.

The Fed Balance Sheet for the week is expected to be at 4.30 pm ET. In the prior
week, the level was at $7.23 trillion.

Asian stocks fell broadly on Friday. Oil prices were on course for another
weekly gain despite dipping in Asian trade.

China's Shanghai Composite index dipped 0.26 percent to 2,949.93. Hong Kong's
Hang Seng index fell 1.27 percent to 17,799.61.

Japanese shares ended on a flat note. The Nikkei average finished marginally
lower at 40,912.37.

The broader Topix index also briefly hit record levels before reversing course
to end 0.49 percent lower at 2,884.18.

Australian markets ended slightly lower. The benchmark S&P/ASX 100 slipped 0.12
percent to 7,822.30. The broader All Ordinaries index ended down 0.11 percent at
8,070.10.



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