By Sara Sjolin, MarketWatch

J.P. Morgan climbs premarket after Dimon buys shares

U.S. stock futures were poised to bounce back Friday after plunging to multiyear lows a day ago as investors hunted for bargains in a battered market.

Chatter that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries is weighing a production cut sparked a rally of close to 5% in oil prices, which helped to soothe anxious investors.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 96 points, or 0.6%, to 15,708, while those for the S&P 500 index gained 13.50 points, or 0.7%, to 1,838. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index rose 26.75, or 0.7%, to 3,988.

But such gains wouldn't be enough to erase the losses from Thursday's selloff, when the Dow average ended at a two-year low (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/dow-futures-sink-more-than-200-points-as-global-rout-gains-pace-2016-02-11) and the S&P 500 index closed at the weakest level since April 2014.

The losses were part of a wider global flight from risky assets such as equities, as concerns about the world economy, falling oil prices and cracks in the banking system spooked investors. The MSCI World Index entered into bear territory on Thursday.

Read: Here are 5 signs we might already be in a bear market (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/here-are-5-signs-we-might-already-be-in-a-bear-market-2016-02-11)

On Friday, crude oil and Brent rallied around 5% (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/oil-prices-rally-5-after-more-jawboning-from-opec-members-2016-02-12). The gains came after the United Arab Emirates's energy minister said late Thursday that OPEC was ready to cooperate on production cuts. But OPEC members have made similar comments before without any action being taken, and few now believe an output cut will materialize.

Even so, the rise in oil prices "will be helping sentiment for stocks," said Tony Cross, market analyst at Trustnet Direct, in a note.

"But critically, the fundamentals haven't changed. As such, this still looks more like bargain hunting than the market turning its back definitively on the run lower," he added.

In Europe, markets also rallied (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/european-stocks-finding-relief-but-weekly-slide-appears-intact-2016-02-12), with the Stoxx Europe 600 index coming back from a two-year low. The sentiment was more downbeat in Asia, where Japan's Nikkei 225 index slumped 4.8% and ended with the worst weekly drop since 2008 (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/japan-stocks-plunge-to-lowest-point-in-more-than-a-year-2016-02-11).

Gold , which jumped to its highest finish in a year (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/gold-jumps-to-1-year-high-as-global-market-rout-spurs-safe-haven-buying-2016-02-11) on Thursday, gave up some of that gain (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/gold-prices-slip-as-investors-embrace-risk-assets-2016-02-12) and lost 0.7%. The dollar advanced against most major currencies and rose 0.2% against the yen to Yen112.55.

Data: Friday's data releases may give fresh insight into the impact of this year's market turmoil on the U.S. economy.

First up are retail sales for January, due at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time. They are forecast to show no growth last month, compared with a drop of 0.1% in December (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/retail-sales-fall-in-december-end-2015-with-whimper-2016-01-15). At the same time, the import-price index for January is due.

At 10 a.m. Eastern come reports on consumer sentiment for February and business inventories in December.

As for Federal Reserve speakers, New York Fed President William Dudley will give a speech on household borrowing and indebtedness at 10 a.m. Eastern.

Read: Have central banks lost market credibility? (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/is-this-the-week-central-banks-lost-their-market-credibility-2016-02-11)

Movers and shakers: Shares of J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) climbed 3.1% ahead of the bell, after CEO Jamie Dimon bought 500,000 of his bank's shares for $26 million (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/ceo-jamie-dimon-bets-on-jp-morgan-chase-to-the-tune-of-26-million-2016-02-11) on Thursday. The purchase is meant to stem the negative sentiment clobbering bank stocks this year.

Among other banks, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) gained 2%, and Citigroup Inc. (C) rose 2.5%.

Groupon Inc.(GRPN) leapt more than 20% as earnings, reported late Thursday, beat expectations (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/groupon-swings-to-loss-results-beat-projections-2016-02-11).

Pandora Media Inc.(P) was up 2.5%. Shares had dropped in Thursday's after-hours trade as investors appeared disappointed about plans to spend heavily on an on-demand music service (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/pandoras-spending-plans-dismay-investors-2016-02-11).

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 12, 2016 08:44 ET (13:44 GMT)