By Peter Nurse
Investing.com -- U.S. stocks are seen opening marginally lower Friday, adding to the previous session’s losses as investors digested a mixed set of quarterly earnings with more important economic data due.
At 06:50 ET (10:50 GMT), the Dow Futures contract was down 60 points, or 0.2%, S&P 500 Futures traded 10 points, or 0.2%, lower and Nasdaq 100 Futures dropped 60 points, or 0.5%.
The main indices closed lower Thursday, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite hit particularly hard, falling 0.8%, after Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) stock slumped almost 10% as the electric car manufacturer posted a first-quarter miss.
The blue chip Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 110 points, or 0.4%, while the broad-based S&P 500 ended down 0.6%.
All three indices are on course to post a negative week, with the DJIA and the S&P 500 on track for their worst weekly performances since March, amid concerns that the U.S. economy may be heading towards a recession.
Data released on Thursday showed continuing U.S. unemployment benefit claims jumping to the highest level since November 2021, while a gauge of manufacturing activity in the Philadelphia area plunged in April to the lowest level since May 2020.
Friday sees the release of preliminary manufacturing and services PMIs as well as a speech from Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook.
Investors cut their equities holdings in the week to Wednesday, according to a report from Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) Global Research on Friday, selling $2.6 billion of global stocks.
On the earnings front, companies including consumer products giant Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG), oilfield services company Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB), mining company Freeport McMoran and HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) are set to report quarterly results.
Next week sees the heart of the first-quarter U.S. earnings season, with three of the four biggest U.S. companies by market value -- Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Google parent Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) and Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) -- are scheduled to post earnings, along with Facebook (NASDAQ:META) parent Meta Platforms.
Oil prices edged lower Friday, on course for a hefty weekly loss on rising concerns the U.S. economy, the largest consumer of crude in the world, will fall into recession as the year progresses.
U.S. crude oil inventories fell more than forecast last week, Energy Information Administration data showed earlier this week, but gasoline stockpiles jumped unexpectedly on disappointing demand.
By 06:50 ET, U.S. crude futures traded 0.2% lower at $77.20 a barrel, while the Brent contract dropped 0.3% to $80.90.
Both benchmarks slid by more than 2% to their lowest level since late March on Thursday, and are on track for a weekly drop of about 6%.
Additionally, gold futures fell 0.9% to $2,000.10/oz, while EUR/USD traded 0.1% lower at 1.0964.