Wall Street Seen Opening On Flat Note

(RTTNews) - Activity is likely to be somewhat subdued amid thin volumes on Friday with trading scheduled to end at 1 PM ET. The economic calendar is blank and there are not many news from the corporate front to warrant significant moves.

Futures were slightly up a little while ago. The Dow futures were up 0.11 percent, the S&P futures were up 0.10 percent, and the Nasdaq futures climbed 0.18 percent.

The market remained shut on Thursday for Thanksgiving Day holiday.

Trading in the futures segment was disrupted earlier due to an outage on CME Group's platform.

According to CME, the outage was due to a technical issue at CyrusOne data centers.

Expectations of an interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve in December is likely to help keep investor sentiment positive.

On Wednesday, the major averages closed on a firm note, extending gains for the fourth consecutive session, as traders shrugged off valuation concerns and picked up stocks on bets the Fed will lower interest rates in December.

Dovish comments from some Federal Reserve officials lifted optimism about rate cut. CME Group's FedWatch Tool indicates the chances the Fed will lower rates by another quarter point next month have soared to 82.9 percent from just 30.1 percent a week ago.

A Bloomberg report indicated that White House National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett has emerged as the frontrunner as the next Fed Chair.

Hassett's economic perspectives align much with that of U.S. President Donald Trump, who is in favor of a low-interest rate regime.

The Dow climbed 314.67 points or 0.7 percent to 47,427.12, the Nasdaq jumped 189.10 points or 0.8 percent to 23,214.69 and the S&P 500 advanced 46.73 points or 0.7 percent to 6,812.61.

In overseas trading, Asian stocks turned in a mixed performance on Friday as China industrial profits data disappointed and China Vanke proposed to delay repayment of an onshore bond, rekindling worries about China's property market.

European stocks are somewhat subdued in lackluster trade today with investors assessing the latest batch of regional and U.S. economic data and looking ahead to fresh reports for direction.

West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures are up $0.43 or 0.73 percent, at $59.08 a barrel. Gold futures are gaining $19.10 or 0.45 percent, at $4,221.40 an ounce.