Wall Street set to open higher after Trump tax cut talk

By Yashaswini Swamynathan

(Reuters) - Wall Street looked set to open slightly higher on Friday, a day after its major indexes hit record highs on President Donald Trump's promise to unveil a tax reform plan in the coming weeks.

Trump called his tax plan as "phenomenal", but offered no details other than citing the need to lower tax burden on businesses.

The news helped reignite a post-election rally, which had stalled in recent weeks on concerns over Trump's protectionist stance and the lack of clarity on his policies.

Trump's hint that the tax plan will move quickly is the biggest theme for investors, and he has always maintained that it is going to be very aggressive, said Uriel Cohen, founder of Alpine Global in New York.

"No one wants to miss a large pop when that news does come out."

Jeb Hensarling, the Republican chairman of a key House of Representatives committee, laid out his plan to roll back Wall Street and consumer protection rules, which were put in place after the 2008 financial crisis, according to a staff memo seen by Reuters on Thursday.

Banks, including Morgan Stanley, Bank of America and JPMorgan, were slightly higher in premarket trading on Friday.

The dollar index rose 0.23 percent to a near three-week high of 100.89. Gold was down 0.2 percent after hitting a three-month high on Thursday.

Oil prices rose 1.5 percent after news that OPEC members' initial compliance with last year's landmark production cut deal reached a record high.

Dow e-minis were up 30 points, or 0.15 percent at 8:28 a.m. ET (1328 GMT), with 21,713 contracts changing hands.

S&P 500 e-minis were up 2.5 points, or 0.11 percent, with 100,854 contracts traded.

Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 6 points, or 0.12 percent, on volume of 19,481 contracts.

A University of Michigan report is likely to show that its consumer sentiment index slipped to 97.9 in February from 98.5 last month. The data is due at 10:00 a.m. ET (1700 GMT).

Shares of Activision Blizzard rose 10.24 percent after the videogame maker reported better-than-expected quarterly revenue and a $1 billion share buyback program.

Sears Holding surged 44 percent to $8 after the struggling retailer said it would cut debt and pension obligations by at least $1.5 billion this year.

Mead Johnson was up 5.17 percent after Reckitt Benckiser finalised a $16.6 billion deal to buy the infant formula maker.

Skechers USA was up 11.2 percent in light trading after its fourth-quarter revenue beat expectations.

(Reporting by Yashaswini Swamynathan in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva)