Futures Tick Up After Goods Data Top Views

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U.S. stock-index futures climbed on Friday as traders mulled upbeat economic data and corporate earnings.

Today's Markets

As of 8:37 a.m., Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose 2 points to 15456, S&P 500 futures advanced 0.5 point to 1752 and Nasdaq 100 futures rose 9 points to 3380.

After a couple weeks that were light in economic releases due to the government shutdown, the flow of data has picked up substantially.

The Commerce Department said orders for long-lasting goods rose 3.7% in September, beating expectations of a 2% jump. Excluding the transportation segment, orders fell 0.1%. The reading is a somewhat lagging indicator, but it will figure into investment banks' third and fourth quarter gross domestic product estimates.

Later, at 9:55 a.m. ET, the University of Michigan/Thomson Reuters gauge of consumer sentiment is released. Wall Street is expecting the indicator to have fallen slightly to 75 in late October from 75.2 earlier in the month. Economists will be looking to see how the partial government shutdown is affecting consumers ahead of the key holiday shopping season.

On the earnings front, United Parcel Service (NYSE:UPS) revealed a bigger-than-expected increase in quarterly profits. The shipping giant is seen as an economic bellwether.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG), the blue-chip consumer products maker, met expectations on the bottom line.

In commodities, U.S. crude oil prices 27 cents, or 0.28%, to $97.28 a barrel. Wholesale New York Harbor gasoline fell 0.91% to $2.567 a gallon. Gold slumped 0.72% to $1,341 a troy ounce.

Foreign Markets

The Euro Stoxx 50 rose 0.09% to 3042, the English FTSE 100 climbed 0.14% 6723 and the German DAX tilted higher by 0.24% to 9003.

In Asia, the Japanese Nikkei 225 tumbled 2.8% to 14088 and the Chinese Hang Seng dipped 0.6% to 22698.