Dow futures edge higher, bank earnings in focus

Investing.com -- U.S. stock futures traded largely unchanged Friday at the end of a positive week, with investors holding their breath ahead of quarterly earnings reports from a number of the country’s largest banks.

By 06:45 ET (10:45 GMT), the Dow Futures contract was up 70 points, or 0.2%, while S&P 500 Futures traded 1 point lower and Nasdaq 100 Futures dropped 8 points, or 0.1%.

The benchmark indices on Wall Street closed higher Thursday after data showed that producer price growth in the U.S. eased by more than anticipated in June, joining consumer prices in indicating that inflation is cooling faster than expected.

This could provide the Federal Reserve with reason to hold off on further rate increases after a hike later this month, as this has already been signaled.

This has helped Wall Street post strong gains this week, with the blue chip Dow Jones Industrial Average heading into today's trading up 1.9% and the broad-based S&P 500 gaining 2.5%. Meanwhile, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite has jumped 3.5%, putting it on course for its best week since March.

Big banks start new earnings season

Attention is now turning to the new quarterly earnings season, with second-quarter results this session from the largest U.S. lenders -- beginning with JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM), Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) and Citigroup (NYSE:C) -- leading the way.

These results may not be particularly pleasant reading comparatively, as lucrative deal-making has hit a dry patch and new capital requirements may force banks to pull back on lending. 

That said, the biggest banks are still likely to maintain solid numbers.

Legal battle over Microsoft/Activision deal

Elsewhere, health insurer UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) is also scheduled to report earnings, while Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT)'s potential acquisition of Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ:ATVI) remains in the spotlight with the Federal Trade Commission seeking a new injunction to prevent it going through, just a few days after a federal judge rejected a similar request.

The U.K. regulator earlier Friday extended the deadline for its review of the takeover by six weeks to Aug. 29.

The entertainment sector is also in the news after Hollywood actors joined screenwriters in a strike for the first time in over six decades, shuttering production in the film and TV industry.

Crude drifts lower; supplies tighten 

Oil prices edged lower Friday, but are still on course for their third consecutive weekly gain on the prospect of tighter supplies as well as soft U.S. inflation data.

Several Libyan oil fields, including the country’s second-largest, Sharara, were shut down on Thursday, while a suspected pipeline leak suspended exports from Nigeria’s Forcados terminal.

These disruptions in supply follow last week’s announcement of additional output cuts by Saudi Arabia and Russia, and point to tighter oil markets in the coming months.

By 06:45 ET, the U.S. crude futures traded 0.2% lower at $76.76 a barrel, while the Brent contract dropped 0.1% to $81.25.

Both contracts traded near their highest levels since late April, and were on track to rise around 4% this week.

Additionally, gold futures fell 0.2% to $1,959.80/oz, while EUR/USD traded 0.1% lower to 1.1218.

(Oliver Gray contributed to this item.)