LONDON (ShareCast) - (ShareCast News) - US stock futures pointed to a muted open on Friday, as Wall Street awaited another round of important economic data.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average is expected to open approximately down 12 points, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq are set to begin the final session of the week one and 17 points higher respectively.

Friday data

In terms of economic data, investors will closely monitor a fresh reading on the country's consumer price index, which is released at 1330 BST and is expected to have risen 0.3% in June.

A report on housing starts for June is also released at 1330 BST, while the University of Michigan's consumer confidence indicator is on tap at 1500 BST.

"The figure is expected to slip from 0.4% to 0.3% month-on-month, whilst core CPI is expected to see a slight jump to 0.2% from 0.1%," said Spreadex's financial analyst Connor Campbell.

"Not exactly the kind of progress the Fed wants to see if it is going to raise rates this year."

At the same time, Federal Reserve vice chairman Stanley Fischer will speak at the US Chamber of Commerce.

Google surges on earnings

In company news, Google surged 13% in pre-market trading after the tech giant posted better-than-expected quarterly profit late on Thursday.

General Electric climbed 1.89% ahead of the bell after announcing earlier on Friday that its second quarter revenue and earnings beat expectations.

Technology group Honeywell gained 2.12% after saying its second quarter profits and sales had topped Wall Street forecast.

So far this earnings season 71% of companies had beaten consensus forecasts. Expectations were for S&P 500 earnings to fall by 4.3% - their first year-on-year decline since 2009. However, the entirety of the drop could be accounted for by lower profits in the oil patch.

German to vote on Greek bailout

Elsewhere, European equity markets were mixed in a tight range on Friday as investors paused for breath following healthy gains in the previous session, ahead of a German vote on Greece's bailout deal.

"With Germany likely to approve the bailout today, negotiations on the terms of the bailout can begin, including the issue of debt relief which the IMF is insisting on in exchange for it being involved," said Oanda's senior market analyst Craig Erlam.

"A haircut on Greek debt is not allowed according to German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble which leaves creditors with few options on how to make Greek debt more sustainable."

Asian markets closed mostly higher, driven by Chinese stocks, which ended the week with a two-day rally after efforts of Chinese officials to revive the market appear to have taken effect.

The dollar was largely flat against the main currencies, while gold futures declined 0.11% to $1,142.60.

Oil prices were mixed, with West Texas Intermediate shedding 0.18% to $50.82 a barrel, while Brent climbed 0.11% to $56.98 a barrel.

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