ASX futures fell 16 points or 0.2 percent to 6896 near 8.00 am AEST, pointing to a dip when trading began.

Stocks rose on Friday, powered by strong earnings from Apple and other major companies, as the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended a three-week losing streak.

The action punctuated by a late-afternoon rally was welcome for investors after a nerve-racking January. Stocks dropped in recent weeks as the Federal Reserve’s pivot from juicing economic growth to squashing inflation became clearer. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell signaled Wednesday that the central bank was preparing to begin a campaign of rate increases in March, drawing to a close a long spell of ultra-low interest rates.

The S&P rose 2.4 percent on Friday. The Dow gained 1.7 percent, after an up and down day in which it bobbed between small gains and small losses, then shot up in the last hour and a half of trading. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite soared 3.1 percent, wiping out all of its losses for the week. The Dow and S&P ended the week up 1.3 percent and 0.8 percent, respectively, while the Nasdaq was roughly flat on the week.

Here, the S&P/ASX 200 soared 2.2% to finish at 6988.1, with all sectors in the green. Consumer discretionary stocks were the top sector performers, gaining 3.3%, while telecom services stocks jumped 2.9%.

Breville climbed 6.8%, while Premier Investments advanced 4.8% and Wesfarmers rose 4.2%. Newcrest Mining lost 6.4% even after saying it was on track to hit annual guidance.

BHP rose 2.7%, while Ramelius Resources, which fell 8.0%, was the worst performer for the day.

The ASX 200 fell 2.6% for the week, saddling itself with its third straight weekly finish in red.

European markets fell, with the pan-continental Stoxx Europe 600 down 1 percent. Asian markets were mixed. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong retreated 1.1 percent, while the Shanghai Composite Index was off about 1 percent. Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 2.1%.

Spot gold fell 0.5% to $US 1786.60 a barrel; Brent crude gained 0.8% to $US90.03; Iron ore rose 6.6% to US$147.90 a tonne.

Buyers re-entered long-term bond markets and the yield on the Australian 10-year bond dipped to 1.94% and the benchmark US 10-year Treasury yield eased to 1.77%. Yields fall when prices rise.

With the Australian dollar buying 69.90 US cents at 8:00 am, down from 70.31 at the previous close, to 70.2340 at 06:00 am AEST. The WSJ Dollar Index, which measures the buck against 16 other currencies, climbed to 90.76.

Asia

Chinese stocks ended mixed before a weeklong Lunar New Year hiatus, led lower by coal miners, liquor makers, and lenders. Sentiment among big investors may also be weighed down by uncertainty in overseas markets over the holiday, according to Soochow Securities. Slumping thermal coal futures dragged miners lower, with Yankuang Energy, China Shenhua, and China Coal Energy losing 4.0%-5.8%. Index heavyweight Kweichow Moutai fell 4.0% and Wuliangye Yibin slid 2.5%, while China Merchants Bank fell 3.1% and Ping An Bank dropped 2.9%. The Shanghai Composite Index finished at its lowest since March of this year at 1.0% lower, the Shenzhen Composite Index was flat, while the ChiNext Price Index inched up 0.1%.

The Hang Seng in Hong Kong ended 1.1% lower. Auto stocks tumbled, with BYD Co. down 9.0%, Great Wall Motor losing 2.8% and SAIC Motor off 0.9%. A plunge in Tesla’s shares overnight could have put a lid on sentiment over the electric vehicle space, KGI Securities added. Another big loser was property developer Country Garden, which slumped 2.3%, in spite of news that the company had repaid the total amount of notes which matured on 27 Jan.

Japanese stocks closed broadly up, buoyed by solid chemical and electronics stocks on the back of a recovery in their earnings and a selloff on Thursday. The Nikkei Stock Average was up 2.1%. Shin-Etsu Chemical leapt 7.6% after it lifted fiscal-year revenue and net profit outlooks. Sony Group rose 4.0% and chemical maker Asahi Kasei advanced 3.8%.

Europe

European stocks fell as traders looked for a lower open on Wall Street. The pan-European Stoxx 600 closed 1% lower, finishing in the red for the fourth week in a row.

“Much of the global market turmoil has eased, with the week’s major events now past us,” say IG analysts, “but it remains in a somewhat wary atmosphere.

“It appears to be a quieter end to the week, with only US PCE data on the economic docket for the day as earnings turn industrial with Chevron, Caterpillar.

In London, the FTSE 100 index fell 1.1 percent, hurt by oil stocks, mining, and financial companies.

“Corporate earnings are mixed, and that’s not doing anything to lift sentiment,” says Richard Hunter, head of markets at interactive investor. “The full wash through of the impact of the Omicron variant, as it is, won’t fully wash through until the first-quarter earnings of 2022 come through.”

North America

Stocks rose on Friday, buoyed by solid earnings from Apple and other major companies, and the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average ended a three-week slump.

The move, which was capped off by a late-afternoon rally, was a welcome bit of news for investors after a nerve-racking January. Stocks had sold off in recent weeks on growing expectations that the Fed would shift from juicing economic growth to fighting inflation. The Fed chairman, Jerome H. Powell, signaled on Wednesday that the central bank would begin a string of rate increases in March, ending an extended stretch of near-zero interest rates.

“It’s like a comfort blanket for investors and for markets, cheap money,” said Jane Foley, senior foreign-exchange strategist at Rabobank. “And almost inevitably, you begin to withdraw some of that cheap money and you are going to have more volatility in the markets.”

On Friday, the S&P rose 2.4%. The Dow was up 1.7 percent, after a see-saw day in which, for hours, it swung back and forth between gains and losses and then rocketed higher in the last hour and a half of trading. The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite roared 3.1 percent higher, and wiped out all its losses for the week. The Dow finished the week up 1.3 percent and the S&P 0.8 percent, while the Nasdaq was roughly flat on the week.

Frustratingly upbeat big-name corporate earnings reports cheered investors. Shares of Apple, the world’s largest publicly traded company by market capitalization, on Friday climbed $11.11, or 7 percent, to $170.33, a day after the iPhone maker reported record revenue and profit.

“Apple saved the day yesterday for the entire market,” said Louis Ricci, head trader of Emles Advisors, an investment-management firm.

Yet, big stock indexes remain far below their peaks. The S&P 500 has lost 7% in January.

Inflation pressure that has alarmed policymakers, according to government data released on Friday. The Fed’s preferred inflation measure, the core personal-consumption expenditures price index, climbed 4.9% in December from a year earlier.

A separate measure showed that employers paid 4% more for wages and benefits last year, the biggest increase since 2001, as a tight labor market led workers to ask for higher pay. Nonetheless, the cost of employment did not increase as much in the fourth quarter as economists were expecting, allaying some fears that the U.S. economy is on its way toward a “wage-price spiral.” In such a situation, wage increases and price hikes feed off each other and fuel inflation.

Moving forward, investors should pack for more volatility while the Fed contemplates inflation, said Scott Clemons, chief investment strategist for the private banking business of Brown Brothers Harriman.

“If the market decides that the Fed is raising interest rates because they are behind the curve when it comes to inflation and they are running to catch up, that’s a very disruptive narrative,” Mr. Clemons said.

New Commerce Department data, meanwhile, showed that consumer spending fell in the most recent month as prices continued to climb and as the fumes from the Omicron wave of Covid-19 dissipated. Other data indicate that the highly contagious variant has peaked in many crowded places in the US but continues to rise in others.

This week’s corporate earnings reports have been filtered by inflation concerns. Mondelez International said late Thursday that it expected to raise prices more this year. Shares of the global food giant fell $1.05, or 1.6 percent, to $66.42 on Friday, when it reported that its profit was being pinched by rising costs for ingredients and transportation.

Corporate earnings have been generally solid. Nearly a third of the companies on the S&P 500 have reported their fourth-quarter results, and 78% of those beat analysts’ estimates for earnings per share, according to FactSet.

In commodities, US natural-gas futures soared 8.3% to settle at $4.64 per million British thermal units after a snowstorm was expected to strike the East Coast and forecasters said February would bring colder-than-expected temperatures, increasing expected demand for the heating fuel.

Investors bought government bonds on Friday, helping to pull down yields. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 1.779 percent from 1.807 percent on Thursday. Bond yields rise as prices fall and vice versa.