Stock futures rise, suggesting higher open as investors look for bargains

NEW YORK -- Wall Street appeared headed toward a slightly higher open Friday as investors looked for bargains and snap a three-week losing streak.

Concerns about consumer spending and the unfolding global credit crisis has driven some well-known stocks -- especially in the financial services sector -- to lows for the year. Bargain hunters were seen rushing into the market ahead of the weekend to take advantage of lower prices.

Driving futures higher were companies like Hewlett-Packard Co. The largest maker of printers moved higher before the opening bell after Morgan Stanley told clients to buy shares, raising the stock's rating to an "overweight" from "equal weight."

Dow futures rose 43, or 0.33 percent, to 13,203. Standard & Poor's 500 futures added 6.70, or 0.46 percent, to 1,464.60. Nasdaq 100 index futures rose 7.75, or 0.38 percent, to 2,041.25.

The upgrade on Hewlett-Packard helped to offset concerns about consumer spending and further turmoil in the credit markets.

Starbucks Corp. slashed its earnings outlook for the fourth quarter after it reported traffic at stores open at least 13 months dropped by 1 percent -- the first time a decline has ever been reported by the coffee retailer. The company said late Thursday it also plans to slow the pace of U.S. store openings.

Concerns about the holiday shopping season sent Wall Street lower on Thursday, with a 120-point drop in the Dow Jones industrial average. J.C. Penney Co. and Kohl's Corp. scaled back its projections for the holiday shopping season.

Also weighing on investors was continued concern that turmoil in the credit markets will force more banks to writedown bad investments. There were also reports late Thursday that Residential Capital, the troubled mortgage lending arm of GMAC, was close to breaching bank loan covenants.

The unit is operated by private equity fund Cerberus Capital Management and General Motors Corp., which may not step up to provide the lender with additional capital, according to reports in the Financial Times and The Wall Street Journal.

Oil prices rose amid expectations that global crude supplies will remain tight despite a U.S. oil inventory report that showed a surprising build in domestic crude stockpiles. Light, sweet crude rose 70 cents to $94.13 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

There was little in the way of economic news expected Friday. However, Fannie Mae, the government-sponsored mortgage lender, will hold a question-and-answer session to discuss its accounting procedures and the housing slump. The investor call will be held at 9 a.m. EST.

The drop in U.S. stocks on Thursday sent shares lower in Asia and Europe. Britain's FTSE 100 tumbled 0.56 percent, Germany's DAX index fell 0.64 percent, while France's CAC-40 shed 0.50 percent. In Asia, Japan's Nikkei stock average closed down 1.57 percent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell 3.95 percent.