Small-cap stocks were expected to open solidly higher Friday morning, in line with overnight gains on stock index futures. The Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) was up about 0.5% in after-hours trading, which would translate to a cash opening near 721.

The high for the recent move was at 723.86, just shy of key long-term chart resistance at 724. If that resistance area is tackled, then it would open the door for a run toward a double top from early February at 731. Looking at other major index products, the Dow already is at the highest price since January, and the S&P 500 is hovering about five handles below 1,400 in overnight trading, which could be an important figure test for the bulls.

Once again, overnight gains were fueled by solid earnings results, particularly in the financial sector, driven by American Express (NYSE:AXP), which was up about 3% following better-than-forecast results.

Overseas stock market trading also lent support to small caps, with European shares climbing to three-week highs, as the European DJ Stoxx 50 was up about 1.6% and Japan’s Nikkei up 2.3%. In addition, the dollar remained firm, and was . . .

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