Stock Futures Eye Strong Finish to Upbeat Week

Wall Street is on track for its best week in months. Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) futures are up 160 points at last check, while S&P 500 Index (SPX) and Nasdaq-100 Index (NDX) futures are indicating a higher open as well, thanks in large part due to infrastructure bill optimism. On the inflation front, investors are weighing the core personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index, which rose 3.4% year-over-year in May -- the fastest increase in nearly 30 years. In response, the 10-year Treasury yield moved lower, last seen at 1.48%. Wall Street is also unpacking an encouraging top-line beat from retail giant Nike (NKE), which is pacing Dow futures this morning.

Continue reading for more on today's market, including:

• This energy stock has room to run. 
• A look at McAfee stock after its threat report. 
• Plus, SPCE soars after FAA approval; a big upgrade to Netflix; and a labor shortage weighs on FedEx. 

5 Things You Need to Know Today

1. The Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE) saw more than 2.3 million call contracts traded on Thursday, and 945,820 put contracts. The single-session equity put/call ratio rose to 0.40 and the 21-day moving average stayed at 0.44.
2. Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc (NYSE:SPCE) is up 19.5% before the bell today, after the Federal Aviation Administration (AA) approved the company for commercial launches after its successful May test flight, marking the first time AA has allowed paying customers into space. 
3. Credit Suisse upgraded Netflix Inc (NASDAQ:NFLX) to "outperform" from "neutral," seeing a good entry point for the streaming name, which it believes is still the top choice amongst its sector. NFLX is up 1.6% pre-market. 
4. FedEx Corporation (NYSE:FDX) is down 3.7% in electronic trading, despite an upbeat fiscal fourth-quarter report and no fewer than three price-target hikes, as the labor shortage weighs on the company. 
5. Today will bring consumer spending and sentiment data.

Asian Markets Higher as Inflation Grips Europe

Markets in Asia rose on Friday, with the Hong Kong Hang Seng leading the region with a 1.4% pop, amid news that the electric vehicle maker XPeng will roll out its Hong Kong-listed shares. Meanwhile, the South Korean Kospi added 0.5% -- nothing a fresh record close. Lastly, the Shanghai Composite tacked on 1.2%, strengthened by tech firms Tencent Music (TME) and Alibaba (BABA), and the Japanese Nikkei added 0.7%. 

European markets are mixed, with the French CAC 40 and the German DAX both off 0.06%, while the London FTSE 100 is 0.3% higher. Inflation in Europe and abroad is on investor’s minds, amid a forecast from the Bank of England (BoE) that projected inflation hitting 3% at its peak, before it begins to cool. Elsewhere, the German GFK consumer sentiment index was released, showing consumer confidence rising to -0.3 points coming into July – much slimmer than the -4.0 expected, and up considerably from last month’s reading of -6.9.