BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - The Commerce Department's report on
personal income and spending and earnings results might be the highlights on
Friday.

On the earnings front, Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL), Intel (INTC) and
Microsoft (MSFT) have scheduled their quarterly results after the close of
today's trading.
In the Asian session, oil and gold traded higher, as the dollar index stabilized
around a two-week low following the U.S. GDP surprise.

Early signs from the U.S. Futures Index suggest that Wall Street might open
positive.

As of 8.15 am ET, the Dow futures were up 57.00 points, the S&P 500 futures were
adding 37.75 points and the Nasdaq 100 futures were progressing 174.00 points.

The U.S. major averages finished lower on Thursday. The Dow slumped 375.12
points or 1.0 percent to 38,085.80 after plunging by more than 700 points in
early trading. The Nasdaq slid 100.99 points or 0.6 percent to 15,611.76 and the
S&P 500 fell 23.21 points or 0.5 percent at 5,048.42.

On the economic front, the Personal Income and Outlays for March will be
released at 8.30 am ET. The consensus is for an increase of 0.5 percent, while
it was up 0.3 percent in the prior month.

The Consumer Sentiment data for April will be published at 10.00 am ET. The
consensus is 77.9, while it was up 77.9 in March.

The Baker Hughes Rig Count for the week is scheduled at 1.00 pm ET. In the prior
week, the North America rig count was 746 and the U.S. rig count was 619.

Asian stocks rose broadly on Friday. Mainland Chinese and Hong Kong stocks
posted strong gains. China's Shanghai Composite Index rallied 1.2 percent to
3,088.64, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index jumped 2.1 percent to 17,651.15.

Japanese markets advanced. The Nikkei 225 Index climbed 0.8 percent to
37,934.76. The broader Topix Index settled 0.9 percent higher at 2,686.48.

Australian and New Zealand markets fell. Australia's benchmark S&P ASX 200 Index
dropped 1.4 percent to 7,575.90, while the broader All Ordinaries index closed
1.3 percent lower at 7,837.40.



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