Before the Bell

It's too early to tell what kind of luck Wall Street will have on this Friday the 13th.

Stock futures are pointing sideways after General Electric's earnings and outlook met analysts' expectations. That doesn't mean investors can afford to spend the rest of the day playing computer solitaire. With the market still edgy over inflation and sluggish economic growth, everyone's waiting for the producer price index data that's set for release shortly. And the University of Michigan/Reuters consumer sentiment survey will be out soon after the opening bell. U.S. Treasuries are little changed.

The dollar is down against the yen.

Oil is up around $64 a barrel as traders fret about refinery outages that drained gasoline inventories ahead of the busy summer season. Student loan company Sallie Mae is in talks to go private via a private equity buyout.

Drug maker Merck raised its earnings outlook late yesterday due to strong sales across its product lines. Apple's new computer operating system is short on good luck. The company pushed the release date back to October so it can focus on its eagerly anticipated iPhone.

Morgan Stanley is set to become Japan's biggest hotelier. It reached a deal to buy 13 hotels and two property management units from All Nippon Airways for $2.4 billion.

Lisa Von Ahn
Editor - www.reuters.com