Near 7:00 a.m. ET, Dow futures were up 225 points, S&P 500 futures were up 24, and Nasdaq futures were up 46. The indexes were all up by more than 1%.
On Thursday evening, Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen said again that an interest rate hike this year would be appropriate. She spoke at the University of Massachusetts on inflation, and said most Federal Open Market Committee members anticipate raising the federal funds rate later this year, followed by gradual tightening, unless the economy surprises everyone.
And now, markets worldwide are rallying. Germany's Dax, the Euro Stoxx 50, and France's CAC 40 were up more than 2%. Japan's Nikkei was up more than 1%.
"The architect of the rally appears, ironically, to be the same lady who put markets on the their recent corrective path south," wrote Accendo Market's Mike van Dulken in a note to clients. "Fed Chair Janet Yellen striking a slightly more hawkish tone (Fed less worried) than last week appears to have gone a fair way to appeasing those cheap money addicts so fearful of continued rate rise uncertainty."
At this point, any number of things could be fingered for how markets have traded since last Thursday's FOMC statement, and they would probably be counterintuitive.
There's key economic data due this morning. The third estimate of second quarter gross domestic product is due, and is expected to be unchanged at 3.7%. The Bureau of Economic Analysis will also release Yellen's favorite measure of inflation: Personal consumption expenditures.
Also, Markit services PMI and the University of Michigan's consumer sentiment report are due today.