U.S. stock futures rose in Friday morning trade, following a wild session on Wall Street, as oil prices continued to recover from their unprecedented selloff.
Futures for Dow Jones Industrials jumped 130 points, or 0.6%, early Friday to 23,467.
Futures for the S&P 500 gained 13.75 points, or 0.5%, at 2,794.50
Futures for the NASDAQ Composite shuttled 33.25 points, or 0.4%, higher to 8,632.
Still, the major averages were on track to post modest weekly losses due to a steep selloff earlier in the week triggered by the collapse in oil markets. Through Thursday’s close, the Dow was down 3% for the week, while the S&P 500 fell 2.6%.
Stocks were taken for a wild ride on Thursday after The Financial Times reported — citing documents accidentally published by the World Health Organization — that Gilead Sciences’ drug remdesivir did not improve coronavirus patients’ condition. The documents cited by the FT referred to a Chinese clinical trial.
More than 2.6 million cases have been confirmed worldwide, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. In the U.S., over 800,000 cases have been confirmed. However, a decline in new daily cases has boosted equities from their lows reached on March 23.
Oil rose for a third day on Friday, rebounding from a historic rout that saw a futures contract turn negative for the first time ever. West Texas Intermediate crude climbed 3.5% to trade above $17 per barrel amid increasing bets for a U.S. production cut, bringing its three-day rally to more than 40%.
Overseas, in Japan, the Nikkei 225 subsided 0.9% Friday, while in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index sank 0.6%.
Oil prices advanced 59 cents to $17.09 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices heightened $12.80 to $1,758.20 U.S. an ounce.