Market today

US stock futures are trading higher on Friday, offsetting losses after falling on Thursday on escalating fears over a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Major futures indices are expected to be up 0.5 per cent when the first bell rings.

Thursday's market drop led to the biggest drop in a fortnight for the S&P 500 as the major indices lost a week's gains.

The price of gold, traditionally a safe haven in times of geopolitical uncertainty, rose 1.6%.

Deer and Company, Outback Steakhouse Bloomin' Brands and sports betting company DraftKings are all worth watching today.

Also, the National Association of Realtors is expected to announce that sales of formerly owned homes fell 1% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.1 million units. This would follow a sharper-than-expected 4.6% decline in December due to high prices and low inventory.

In addition, the Conference Board's leading economic index will be released for January. Watch for an increase of 0.2% on the previous month.

Around 85% of the benchmark S&P 500 index, losing 2.1%, closed lower on Thursday. It fell 94.75 points to 4,380.26 and is now 8.7% below the all-time high set on January 3.

The Dow Jones fell 622.24 points to 34,312.03, while the high-tech Nasdaq lost 407.38 points to 13,716.72.

Microsoft shares fell 2.9 per cent, parent company Facebook fell 4.1 per cent and Nike shares fell 2.5 per cent.

Shares in Walmart the world's largest retailer, rose 4 per cent after posting strong fourth-quarter financial results. GlobalNY.biz wrote about it.

Bond yields fell and banks pulled lower. The yield on 10-year Treasury bonds fell to 1.97% from 2.04% on Wednesday evening.

The price of gold, traditionally a safe haven in times of geopolitical uncertainty, rose 1.6%.

In other trading on Friday, US benchmark crude lost $2.32 to $89.39 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It was down 2 per cent on Thursday, while the price of natural gas fell 4.9 per cent.

Brent crude oil, the international benchmark price, lost $2.40 to $90.61 a barrel.

Bitcoin traded around $40,000, down more than 7% on Thursday.