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* Euro zone finance ministers prepared another
attempt at reaching a deal at a Eurogroup meeting in Brussels,
although some analysts said it may take an emergency summit of
the currency bloc in the coming week to finalise a pact. On
Thursday, Germany rejected a Greek proposal for a six-month
extension of its euro zone loan agreement, saying it fell short
of conditions set by the country's euro zone partners.
* While U.S. equities have little direct exposure to Greece, a
relatively small economy in the euro zone, Wall Street has
lately risen on any sign of progress in reaching an accord.
Investors are concerned that if no deal is reached, forcing
Greece out of the euro zone, that will lead to extended
volatility with a major trading partner.
* In company news, Intuit Inc <INTU.O> late Thursday reported a
smaller-than-expected quarterly loss, helped by strong demand
for its online tax-preparation software, TurboTax.
* For the S&P 500, earnings for the quarter are up 6.5 percent
from a year ago, above a Jan. 1 estimate for 4.2 percent growth,
Thomson Reuters data showed. The S&P 500 index has gained 1.9
percent since the start of the year.
* Apple Inc <AAPL.O> edged higher in premarket trading a day
after Bloomberg reported that the tech giant was aiming to begin
production of an electric car as early as 2020, citing people
with knowledge of the matter.
* Investors are also looking ahead to a survey on February
manufacturing from financial data firm Markit. The preliminary
reading is seen holding essentially flat with January.
* For the week, the Dow is down 0.2 percent, the S&P 500 is flat
and the Nasdaq is up 0.6 percent. The Nasdaq has risen for seven
straight sessions and is nearing the all-time high it reached in
March 2000, prior to the bursting of the dot com bubble.
Futures snapshot at 6:47 a.m.:
* S&P 500 e-minis were up 0.5 points, or 0.02 percent, with
52,005 contracts changing hands.
* Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 7.25 points, or 0.16 percent, in
volume of 9,946 contracts.
* Dow e-minis were up 10 points, or 0.06 percent, with 9,755
contracts changing hands.
(Editing by Bernadette Baum)
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