U.S. stock index futures traded higher on Friday, with global shares boosted early in the day by hopes of monetary stimulus in China, the world's second biggest economy.
Stock futures offered little reaction to government data that had personal spending and income up 0.3 percent in February.
Shares of BlackBerry jumped in early New York trading after the smartphone maker reported a much smaller-than-expected quarterly loss.
In a speech reported by state media on Friday, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said the government would gradually roll out targeted measures to aid the economy, fueling speculation of imminent stimulus.
Jasper Lawler of CMC Markets said Li Keqiang's words seemed to counter earlier suggestions that China's focus would be on reforms rather than spending.
"It may well be the Premier is just talking up the possibilities to aid business confidence," Lawler said in a morning note.
"More importantly, it may be a telling sign of delusion on the part of the communist party's central planners, who appear to believe they can perfectly fine tune growth of 7.5 percent in the economy, despite an obvious slowdown in global demand for Chinese products."
(Read more: Danger of pricing in a 'big bang' China stimulus)
In addition, the University of Michigan will release its final business sentiment index for March at 9:55 a.m.
—By CNBC's Katy Barnato