NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- U.S. stocks looked set to rebound Friday from this week's sharp descent after a report said financial giant Citigroup is considering putting itself on the block.
At 7:42 a.m. ET, Dow Jones industrial average, Standard & Poor's 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures were all signficantly higher, indicating that markets may follow the lead of the Asian markets, which rebounded Friday.
This follows a severe market plunge Thursday, which has brought the major indexes down to about half their peak levels from 2007.
Futures measure current index values against perceived future performance and offer an indication of how Wall Street will open when trading begins in New York.
Peter Cardillo, analyst for Avalon Partners, said the markets are "wrestling with the fear of deflation setting in" following the record decline in consumer prices, reported earlier this week. But hopes that Citigroup would sell itself could "take the market up a little," he said.
"Hopefully, we can get some daylight here and stop the hemorrhaging," said Cardillo.