Futures are surging

Stock futures are firmly higher ahead of the market open on Friday morning.

Near 7:26 a.m. ET, Dow futures were up 168 points, S&P 500 futures were up 18 points, and Nasdaq futures were up 70 points.

The early rally sets up the major indexes to add on to strong gains made during yesterday's session.

The indexes all closed up more than 1.5%, with the Dow gaining 320 points, and the S&P 500 finished about 80 points from its all-time high.

Stock markets around the world are also pacing higher, with Germany's DAX up 2%, and Japan's Nikkei up 2.1%.

We got a triple whammy of impressive tech earnings results after the bell, with Amazon, Microsoft, and Google posting better-than-expected results.

The People's Bank of China cut its one-year lending rate to 4.35% from 4.6%. It is providing more stimulus to support its economy, which has recently given many investors cold sweats.

In economic data today, Markit's manufacturing PMI will cross at 9:45 a.m., and new home sales at 10:00 a.m. ET.

Finviz

The Dow