Easing Oil Prices, Tech Rally Lift Wall Street Pre-Bell; Asia Up, Europe Off

07:14 AM EDT, 09/18/2026 (MT Newswires) -- Wall Street futures pointed moderately higher pre-bell Friday, as global crude prices eased and traders waded back into tech issues. In the futures, the SP 500 rose 0.2%, the Nasdaq inclined 0.5% and the Dow Jones was up 0.1%. Aiding sentiment, Nvidia (NVDA) CEO Jensen Huang said Thursday his company will double chip sales in 2027 from 2026, while meeting UK King Charles III in Scotland. The VanEck Semiconductor fund (SMH) traded up 0.8% pre-bell. West Texas Intermediate crude oil traded down 1.4% at $100.45 per barrel, in morning action. In other news, Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A, BRK.B) named Howard Buffett, a director since 1993 and Warren Buffet's son, as its new chairman, the company disclosed Friday. Founder Buffet has been named chairman emeritus. Asian exchanges traded higher overnight on tech-sector strength, while European bourses tracked moderately south midday on the continent. On the economic calendar is the August industrial production bulletin at 9:15 am ET, followed by the August leading indicators report at 10 am. The Baker Hughes domestic oil-and-gas rig count logs at 1 pm. Federal Reserve Governor Michelle Bowman, and Kansas City President Jeff Schmid are slated to speak on Friday. In pre-market action, bitcoin traded at $78,232, and 10-year US Treasuries offered 4.96%. Spot gold commanded $4,382 an ounce.