By Barbara Kollmeyer, MarketWatch

MADRID (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stock futures pushed higher on Friday, ahead of one of the world's biggest initial public offerings ever, and as two major risk factors this week -- Scotland and the Federal Open Market Committee meeting -- proved to be no hindrance to markets.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 71 points, or 0.4%, to 17,249, while those for the S&P 500 index (SPZ4) rose 6.2 points, or 0.3%, to 2,010.80. Futures for the Nasdaq-100 index (NDZ4) jumped 15 points, or 0.4%, to 4,111.50.

Leading indicators are due at 10 a.m. Eastern Time. At the same time, Dallas Fed President Richard Fisher -- a voting member of the Fed policy committee -- discusses his dissent from Fed policy statement on Fox Business Network.

This week's Fed meeting didn't sway the investor belief that the central bank is committed to keeping interest rates low after monetary stimulus ends, borne out by the Fed's meeting this week. The Dow industrials and the S&P 500 index indexes to closed at record levels on Thursday.

BTIG became the latest on Wall Street to lift its S&P 500 forecast on Thursday, raising its year-end price target to 2,075-2,100, from 1,980. "Given the underperformance of so many and the seasonal bias that dominates the winter months, the bias remains to the upside for equities in the coming three months," BTIG strategist Dan Greenhaus wrote on the company's website.

But he added that his subsequent six to nine-month forecast isn't nearly as optimistic, given a shift by the Fed to policy-tightening is going to lead to equity weakness.

Stocks to watch: One of the world's biggest IPOs in history will debut within hours in New York. Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (BABA) priced Thursday at $68, toward the high end of expectations. That pricing values Alibaba at $168 billion, making it one of the largest U.S. listed companies, giving it a bigger market capitalization than Amazon. (AMZN)(AMZN)(AMZN)Want to buy into Alibaba IPO? Caveat emptor

Yahoo Inc. (YHOO) may move on the final price set by Alibaba, of which it owns a stake. Opinion: China's favorite sons will score big in Alibaba IPO

Oracle Corp. (ORCL) fell 3% in premarket trading on Thursday's news that Chief Executive Officer Larry Ellison is stepping down in favor of Safra Catz and Mark Hurd, who will serve as co-CEOs. Oracle's two CEOS may fuel investor concerns

Shares of Concur Technologies Inc. (CNQR) surged 20% on news German-based SAP AG (SAP) will buy the software group in a deal valued at $8.3 billion. The Wall Street Journal said the deal was the largest in SAP's history. U.S.-listed shares of SAP fell 4% in premarket.

GlaxoSmithKline PLC (GSK) may be a focus after a Chinese court on Friday found its subsidiary in the country guilty of bribing nongovernment personnel, fining the company nearly 300 million pounds ($491.5 million).

Scotland rally: U.S. stock futures saw some benefit from news that Scotland will stay a part of the U.K. The FTSE 100 index rose 0.7%, which if holds, would be the best performance since Sept. 9. Spanish stocks stole the show, rallying 1.2% as strategists said the country's own independence movement has lost strength on the Scottish outcome.

The British pound(GBPUSD) gave up some strength, pulling back to $1.6395 from a high of $1.6526 seen when Scottish votes began to come in. The Nikkei 225 index closed at nearly a seven-year high as the dollar reached a historical high against the yen.

Gold(GCZ4) was sliding toward a third weekly loss, while oil (CLV4) was also on the decline.

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