U.S. stocks were set to open flat on Friday, with investors expecting the market to stem recent losses, while high oil prices fueled concerns of slowing corporate profits and consumer spending. Software company Oracle Corp. might be active on market talk it is likely to win clearance from the European Commission for its hostile $7.7 billion takeover of rival software firm PeopleSoft Inc. . Government data on durable goods orders for August could set the tone for the market's open. Investors will look for clues on capital spending and the strength of the economy. In other corporate news, Smith Barney raised its rating on shares of Marathon Oil Corp. to "buy" from "hold" and increased its price target to $45 per share from $39. Blue chips slumped to near a 5-week low on Thursday after a sharp drop a day earlier as oil flirted with last month's record high price and a key gauge of future economic activity fell for the third straight month. S&P 500 futures were up a point, even with fair value accounting for interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract, indicating the market would open little changed.
Dow Jones industrial index futures rose 4 points, while Nasdaq 100 futures inched down a 1.50 points. "I think the market open depends on the durable goods numbers," said Peter Cardillo, chief market analyst and chief strategist at SW Bach and Co. "If the number comes in weak, I think we'll see a mixed to lower opening. But after a heavy sell-off, I don't think the market will suffer the losses it has lately." U.S. durable goods orders are due out at 8:30 a.m. (1230 GMT). Orders for big-ticket items probably stayed flat in August after rising 1.6 percent in July, according to a poll of analysts. Excluding orders for transportation equipment, durable goods orders likely rose 1 percent, Existing home sales data are set for 10 a.m. (1400 GMT), with economists estimating a slight decrease from a month earlier. Oil prices slipped but held above $48 as the U.S. government said it would lend refiners crude from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, but traders deemed the loan too small to have a lasting impact. U.S. light crude shed 32 cents to $48.14 a barrel in electronic trading after trading as high as $49 on Thursday, 40 cents below the record set on Aug. 20.
Semiconductor stocks, which provided some support to the Nasdaq on Thursday, will be watched after Philips predicted a significant slowdown for the semiconductor industry next year and cut forecasts for its closely watched chip unit. Drug maker Pfizer Inc. may get a lift after the U.S. government refused to allow a nonprofit company to sell cheaper, generic versions of a blockbuster Pfizer drug for treating glaucoma. Iomega Corp. , the maker of "Zip" portable storage devices, may be active after it cut 145 employees, or 25 percent of its work force, in a restructuring that will result in a charge of $5 million to $7 million in the second half of 2004. Shares in PalmSource Inc. fell in electronic trading after the closing bell on Thursday. The developer of operating system software for hand-held devices said its forecast is clouded by Sony Corp.'s <6758.T> withdrawal from the U.S. hand-held computer market.///