North American equity index futures point higher ahead of Friday’s open, as shares in Europe and Asia drifted higher, while investors onshore grow more optimistic, bidding an imminent end to the government shutdown – now entering its 35th day.

Thursday’s session had overshadowed the Senate’s failure to break deadlock over the partial government shutdown; the US Senate had rejected two shutdown-ending bills, while thousands of federal workers missed a second paycheck on Friday – reigniting negotiations over a short-term fix.

The stock market ended mixed yesterday, as Semiconductors rallied (+5.89%), following upside earnings surprises from Xilinx (XLNX: +18.44%) and Lam Research (LRCX: +15.7%), while uncertainty surrounding the outlook of the ongoing shutdown and US-China trade talks damped sentiment on Wall Street.

The S&P 500 ended just +0.05% positive, with Technology leading +0.84%, followed by a +0.53% retracement increase in the Energy sector. Consumer staples, the main benchmark laggard, fell -1.24%.
The Dow Jones recorded a -0.1% decline, whereas the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite maintained a +0.65% advance into the close.

As another week draws to a close, a number of fresh company earnings will be keeping investors busy. Today’s major companies set to report before the opening bell include; ABBV, CL, DHI, LEA, NEE and APD.

In the economic data front; investors will likely review Core Durable Goods data at 8:30am EST, followed by New Home Sales numbers at 10am EST.

TODAY’S TOP HEADLINES

Politics: Trump Adviser Stone Charged as Part of Mueller Investigation. (The WSJ)
A longtime political adviser to President Trump, Roger Stone, was arrested in Florida early Friday on charges of lying to Congress about his contacts with the website Wikileaks during the 2016 campaign.

ECONOMIC CALENDAR:
Today’s Economical Announcements

08:30AM – ★★★ – C. Durable Goods (MoM) (Dec) (Prev: 0.4%)
08:30AM – ★★☆ – Durable Goods (MoM) (Dec) (Prev: -4.3%)
10:00AM – ★★★ – New Home Sales (Nov) (Prev: 544,000)
10:00AM – ★★☆ – New Home Sales (MoM) (Nov) (Prev: -8.9%)

STOCKS IN THE SPOTLIGHT:
Pre-Market Movers & News Related Stocks

Western Digital (WDC): [NEWS] Missed estimates by 6 cents a share, with adjusted quarterly profit of $1.45 per share. Revenue below forecasts.

Intel (INTC): [EARNINGS] Beat estimates by 6 cents a share, with adjusted quarterly earnings of $1.28 per share. Revenue missed forecasts.

E*Trade Financial (ETFC): [EARNINGS] Matched estimates with quarterly earnings of $1.03 per share. Revenue fell short of forecasts.

Colgate-Palmolive (CL): [EARNINGS] Reported profit of an adjusted 74 cents per share for its latest quarter, while revenue and organic sales growth also beat forecasts. However, the company is also predicting lower sales and earnings for 2019.

Starbucks (SBUX): [EARNINGS] Reported adjusted quarterly profit of 68 cents per share, beating estimates by 3 cents a share. Revenue beat forecasts.

Discover Financial Services (DFS): [EARNINGS] Reported a quarterly profit of $2.03 per share, falling 3 cents a share short of consensus forecasts. Revenue in line with estimates.

DR Horton (DHI): [EARNINGS] Missed consensus estimates by 2 cents a share, with quarterly profit of 76 cents per share. Revenue beat forecasts.

Lear Corp. (LEA): [EARNINGS] Earned an adjusted $4.05 per share for its latest quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.92 a share. Revenue below forecasts.

Oracle (ORCL): [NEWS] Oracle said Google’s legal arguments to dismiss a nearly decade-old copyright case have already been examined and discredited.

MasterCard (MA): [NEWS] MasterCard announced a deal to buy U.K. payments company Earthport for $304.1 million.

Microsoft (MSFT): [NEWS] Microsoft’s Bing search service has been restored in China, following a disruption that saw the service unavailable in that country.

MOMENTUM STOCKS:

GAINERS: TGI, XLNX, LRCX, SLM, AMAT, PZZA
LOSERS: FCX, POST, PTCT, QCOM

TODAY’S IPOs:

None.