Wall Street Set To Extend Gains With Ukraine In Focus

U.S. stock indexes were set for a higher open on Friday, building on a late rally in the previous session, as investors scrambled for bargains while closely monitoring the raging battle in Ukraine.

Futures reversed early losses after Moscow said it was ready to send a delegation to the Belarusian capital Minsk for talks with Ukraine as Russian forces pressed toward the country's capital, Kyiv.

Global stocks rose, oil prices fell back below $100 a barrel while safe-haven gold came off 18-month highs.

The West responded to the invasion with a wave of sanctions on Thursday, impeding Russia's ability to do business in major currencies but leaving its energy sector largely untouched. [MKTS/GLOB]

The coordinated response, softer than many investors had feared, helped ease risk-off sentiment in the previous session, with Wall Street ending sharply higher, led by a 3% gain in the Nasdaq following a weak open.

"The rally yesterday in part was based on the idea that there would be a relatively bloodless fall of Ukraine and that we would then move forward from there," said Rick Meckler, partner at Cherry Lane Investments in New Jersey.

"Investors are now looking at the market as if Russia will control Ukraine and trying to assess what that means for world economies and what that means for energy prices."

Bank of America and Tesla Inc rose 1.4% and 1.5%, respectively, in premarket trading to lead gains among big banks and megacap growth names.

Defense stocks Lockheed Martin Corp, Northrop Grumman Corp and L3Harris Technologies Inc inched higher for a second straight day.

At 8:42 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 192 points, or 0.58%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 29.5 points, or 0.69%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 120.5 points, or 0.86%.

All the major indexes were tracking their third straight weekly declines as escalating geopolitical tensions posed a double whammy for investors already worried about aggressive policy tightening plans by the Federal Reserve.