Government report on building starts, Michigan consumer sentiment to close out week.
Readings of the economy's housing and consumer sectors could impact U.S. stock markets, along with investor reaction to eBay and Sun Microsystems results, as bulls try to close out another positive week Friday.
At 5:30 a.m. ET, futures pointed to a slightly lower open for the major indexes.
Before the markets open, the government issues its September report on housing starts, with economists surveyed by Briefing.com expecting the annual rate to have edged up to 1.83 million from 1.82 million.
Then, shortly after the opening bell, the University of Michigan's preliminary October index of consumer sentiment is seen climbing to 88.2 from 87.7 in September.
Investors will also react to the results posted late Thursday by online auctioneer eBay and workstation developer Sun Microsystems. eBay (EBAY: Research, Estimates) posted third-quarter earnings in line with analysts' expectations, but shares fell more than 6 percent in Instinet trading late Thursday as the company failed to surprise investors.
Sun (SUNW: Research, Estimates) posted a bigger loss than analysts expected as weak demand for its servers caused sales to fall for the tenth straight quarter. Among U.S. stocks trading in Europe, Sun was down 1 percent.
Also to be considered is Advanced Micro Devices (AMD: Research, Estimates), the No. 2 chipmaker, which reported a narrower-than-expected loss for the September quarter.
The Dow Jones industrial average was a 0.1 percent loser Thursday, but is up by more than 117 points going into the week's final session. The Nasdaq composite index, up nearly 0.6 percent, is nearly 35 points higher for the week.
Asian-Pacific stocks ended higher Friday, with Tokyo's Nikkei index finishing at a 16-month high. European markets were slightly higher.
Treasury prices rose in early trading, sending the 10-year note yield down to 4.44 percent from 4.46 percent late Thursday. The dollar eased against the yen and euro.
Brent oil futures slipped 14 cents to $29.86 a barrel in London, while gold was slightly higher.
Readings of the economy's housing and consumer sectors could impact U.S. stock markets, along with investor reaction to eBay and Sun Microsystems results, as bulls try to close out another positive week Friday.
At 5:30 a.m. ET, futures pointed to a slightly lower open for the major indexes.
Before the markets open, the government issues its September report on housing starts, with economists surveyed by Briefing.com expecting the annual rate to have edged up to 1.83 million from 1.82 million.
Then, shortly after the opening bell, the University of Michigan's preliminary October index of consumer sentiment is seen climbing to 88.2 from 87.7 in September.
Investors will also react to the results posted late Thursday by online auctioneer eBay and workstation developer Sun Microsystems. eBay (EBAY: Research, Estimates) posted third-quarter earnings in line with analysts' expectations, but shares fell more than 6 percent in Instinet trading late Thursday as the company failed to surprise investors.
Sun (SUNW: Research, Estimates) posted a bigger loss than analysts expected as weak demand for its servers caused sales to fall for the tenth straight quarter. Among U.S. stocks trading in Europe, Sun was down 1 percent.
Also to be considered is Advanced Micro Devices (AMD: Research, Estimates), the No. 2 chipmaker, which reported a narrower-than-expected loss for the September quarter.
The Dow Jones industrial average was a 0.1 percent loser Thursday, but is up by more than 117 points going into the week's final session. The Nasdaq composite index, up nearly 0.6 percent, is nearly 35 points higher for the week.
Asian-Pacific stocks ended higher Friday, with Tokyo's Nikkei index finishing at a 16-month high. European markets were slightly higher.
Treasury prices rose in early trading, sending the 10-year note yield down to 4.44 percent from 4.46 percent late Thursday. The dollar eased against the yen and euro.
Brent oil futures slipped 14 cents to $29.86 a barrel in London, while gold was slightly higher.
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