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 Beyond GE, Wall Street will be mining a handful of data for a fresh look at how the economy is faring. The Labor Department is slated to report on September producer prices. Figures are also due on retail sales for September, business inventories for August and consumer sentiment.
Adding to an already busy day for economic data, investors will look to a planned speech by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke for clues as to whether the central bank will again lower short-term interest rates when it meets Oct. 30-31. Bernanke is slated to speak before the opening bell.
Dow Jones industrial average futures fell 22, or 0.16 percent, to 14,064. Standard & Poor's 500 index futures fell 2.00, or 0.13 percent, to 1,563.20. Nasdaq 100 index futures fell 4.50, or 0.21 percent, to 2,162.25.
Bonds were little changed. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves inversely to the price, remained flat at 4.66 percent from late Thursday.
The dollar was mixed against other major currencies, while gold prices fell.
Light, sweet crude rose 8 cents to $83.16 per barrel in premarket electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
In corporate news, GE's third-quarter earnings rose 14 percent as its energy and transportation businesses did well. Many investors regard GE as a bellwether for the U.S. economy because of the conglomerate's array of businesses
-- from finance to engines to NBC Universal.
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 Citigroup Inc., which like GE is one of the 30 stocks that make up the Dow industrials, said Thursday it is combining its investment banking and alternative investments businesses into a single business run by a former Morgan Stanley executive. Vikram Pandit, who has been in charge of Citi's alternative investments unit since joining the company earlier this year, will lead the new Institutional Clients Group.
Oracle Corp., the business software maker, confirmed it offered to buy BEA Systems Inc. for more than $6.66 billion on Tuesday. Oracle said it sent a letter to the software maker's board offering $17 per share, a 25 percent premium over Thursday's closing price of $13.62.
Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average closed down 0.73 percent. Britain's FTSE 100 fell 0.63 percent, Germany's DAX index fell 0.55 percent, and France's CAC-40 fell 1.23 percent.
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On the Net:
New York Stock Exchange: http://www.nyse.com/
Nasdaq Stock Market: http://www.nasdaq.com/
[Associated Press; by Tim Paradis]
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or
redistributed.
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