Wall
Street looked set to open slightly higher on Friday as earnings rolled
in, while investors braced for the first round of the closely contested
French presidential election.
Centrist Emmanuel Macron is leading most opinion polls for the election's first round on Sunday and is expected to contest a second-round run-off with Marine Le Pen, head of the anti-European Union and anti-immigrant National Front.
"Although Macron has been labeled as favorite to become the next French President, an unexpected Marine Le Pen victory could deal a symbolic blow to the unity of the European Union and ultimately create a tidal wave of risk aversion," FXTM analyst Lukman Otunuga said in a note.
The indexes looked set to snap their two-week losing streak following a rally on Thursday, driven partly by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin's comments that an overhaul of the tax code will be unveiled very soon.
"The comments about the tax reform and generally good quarterly earnings are giving equities a bit of a boost," said Scott Brown, chief economist at Raymond James in St. Petersburg, Florida.
Of the 82 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported earnings through Thursday afternoon, about 75 percent have topped expectations, according to Thomson Reuters data, above the 71 percent average for the past four quarters.
Centrist Emmanuel Macron is leading most opinion polls for the election's first round on Sunday and is expected to contest a second-round run-off with Marine Le Pen, head of the anti-European Union and anti-immigrant National Front.
"Although Macron has been labeled as favorite to become the next French President, an unexpected Marine Le Pen victory could deal a symbolic blow to the unity of the European Union and ultimately create a tidal wave of risk aversion," FXTM analyst Lukman Otunuga said in a note.
The indexes looked set to snap their two-week losing streak following a rally on Thursday, driven partly by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin's comments that an overhaul of the tax code will be unveiled very soon.
"The comments about the tax reform and generally good quarterly earnings are giving equities a bit of a boost," said Scott Brown, chief economist at Raymond James in St. Petersburg, Florida.
Of the 82 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported earnings through Thursday afternoon, about 75 percent have topped expectations, according to Thomson Reuters data, above the 71 percent average for the past four quarters.
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