Futures Bounce Back on Global Market Gains

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U.S. stock-index futures followed foreign markets into the green on Friday following two-straight days of selling on Wall Street.

Today's Markets

As of 8:26 a.m. ET, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures climbed 50 points to 14460, S&P 500 futures rose 8 points to 1542 and Nasdaq 100 futures jumped 15.8 points to 2755.

The volatility on Wall Street has been extreme this week, with the CBOE's VIX, seen as Wall Street's fear gauge,surging nearly 50%. The broad S&P 500 shed  2.1% over the past two days on fears about corporate profits and the global economy.

The stream of business news slowed somewhat Friday, with no major economic releases on tap. However, there were still a slew of corporate earnings out.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) posted better-than-expected results on the top and bottom lines. However, shares of the Dow component slid in early trading. McDonald's (NYSE:MCD) revealed mixed results, beating on revenues, but missing on profits.

On the political front, finance ministers and central bankers were meeting on the day as part of the G20 meeting. Analysts broadly expected the group to reaffirm its push for using conventional and unconventional monetary methods to boost the world economy. Japan was in focus after the country's central bank said it is ready to do whatever it takes to boost inflation to 2%. The move has dramatically weakened the yen, and some critics have said it represents unfair currency manipulation.

Markets in Asia performed well overnight, with benchmark indexes in China surging more than 2% and Japan's Nikkei 225 rising 0.73%.

Oil prices were solidly higher. The benchmark U.S. crude oil contract climbed 66 cents, or 0.75%, to $88.38 a barrel. Wholesale New York Harbor gasoline rose 0.45% to $2.768 a gallon. In metals, gold soared $15.80, or 1.1%, to $1,408 a troy ounce.

Foreign Markets

The Euro Stoxx 50 climbed 0.96% to 2579, the English FTSE 100 climbed 0.59% to 6281 and the German DAX rose 0.26% to 7495.

In Asia, the Japanese Nikkei 225 gained 0.73% to 13316 and the Chinese Hang Seng rallied 2.3% to 22014.