Stock Futures Strengthen After GDP Report

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- U.S. stock futures were strengthening a bit Friday after a second-quarter U.S. gross domestic product report that included an upward revision for the first quarter.

Futures also were rising as traders clung to hopes of greater European Central Bank intervention in the eurozone debt crisis.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average were up 55 points, or 52.07 points above fair value, at 12,880. Futures for the S&P 500 were up 7.2 points, or 6.88 points above fair value, at 1362, while futures for the Nasdaq 100 were up 15.75 points, or 9.7 points above fair value, at 2588.

U.S. stocks soared Thursday with investors seizing on a promise by European Central Bank President Mario Draghi to pull out all stops to keep the eurozone intact. The ECB will do "whatever it takes to preserve the euro," he said. The rally also drew confidence from favorable U.S. economic data, including a fall in weekly initial jobless claims and an increase in durable goods orders.

The Commerce Department said Friday that the U.S. economy grew by an annual rate of 1.5% in the second quarter after an upwardly revised 2% increase in the first quarter. The advance estimate was in line with expectations, according to a Thomson Reuters survey of economists.

The Commerce Department said growth in the U.S. economy reflected positive contributions from personal consumption expenditures, exports, nonresidential fixed investment, private inventory investment, and residential fixed investment. They were partly offset by negative contributions from state and local government spending.

At 9:55 a.m. the final read on the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index will be released and is expected to be in line with the preliminary print of 72.

The FTSE in London was up 0.16% and the DAX in Germany was up 0.19%. The Hong Kong Hang Seng index settled higher by 2.02% and the Nikkei in Japan closed up 1.46%.

September crude oil futures were up 17 cents at $89.56 a barrel. August gold futures were up by $8.40 at $1,623.50 an ounce.