Futures rise as bank, energy stocks gain on recovery hopes

REUTERS: U.S. stock index futures edged higher on Friday as investors bought undervalued energy and bank stocks betting on what is expected to be the fastest economic growth since 1984, while awaiting inflation data later in the day.

Wall Street's major indexes have swung between gains and losses this week as an end-of-quarter rebalancing of investment portfolios led to alternating boost from stocks that stand to benefit from a re-opening economy, and beaten-down technology stocks.

Big banks JPMorgan Chase & Co, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley were up between 0.6per cent and 1.8per cent in premarket trading.

Oil firms Chevron, Exxon Mobil, Marathon Oil, Occidental Petroleum and Devon Energy rose between 0.7per cent and 2.6per cent as crude prices gained 2per cent.

Wall Street's main indexes rebounded in late-day rally on Thursday as weekly jobless claims hit their lowest level since the COVID-19 pandemic began and President Joe Biden highlighted the brightening economic outlook.

The S&P 500 value index which includes energy, banks and industrial stocks, has gained more than 9per cent this year, easily outperforming growth shares, which are down 0.4per cent.

At 6:40 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were up 68 points, or 0.21per cent, S&P 500 E-minis were up 7.5 points, or 0.19per cent and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 17.75 points, or 0.14per cent.

Nio Inc dropped about 1per cent as the Chinese electric vehicle maker said it would halt production for five working days at its Hefei plant due to a shortage in semiconductor chips.

Later in the day, investors from a report will get a glimpse of consumer spending, which accounts for more than two-thirds of U.S. economic activity, in February as well as a reading on the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation measure.

(Reporting by Devik Jain and Medha Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)