Stock futures mixed; Dell in focus

U.S. stock index futures pointed to a mixed open on Wall Street on Friday, with futures for the S&P 500 down 0.04 percent, Dow Jones futures down 0.04 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures up 0.07 percent at 1010 GMT (5:10 a.m. EST).

Dell Inc will be in the spotlight after the No.3 PC maker's quarterly profit plunged 54 percent on lower-than-expected sales as it lost market share to competitors engaged in a budding price war in the PC market.

Shares of Dell sank 6 percent in extended trading following the results, which also show a decline in gross margin that disturbed analysts. Dell shares traded in Frankfurt were down 7.2 percent.

Oil prices steadied below $78 a barrel on Friday, looking for fresh direction after a strong U.S. dollar and weak stock markets triggered a 2 percent fall the previous day.

Italian chocolate maker Ferrero could be interested in Cadbury's gum and candy division, a unit worth about 5 billion euros ($7.4 billion), in a possible joint takeover bid, business daily Il Sole 24 Ore said.

Unlisted Ferrero and Hershey are considering a joint offer for the UK confectioner, which is the target of a hostile bid from Kraft Foods .

Some of Goldman Sachs Inc's largest shareholders have asked the company to cut the size of its bonus pool and pass along more of its profits to investors, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the situation.

General Electric and Vivendi are at least $1 billion apart in their valuation of the French group's stake in NBC Universal, the Financial Times reported.

After the bell on Thursday, Gap Inc shares slipped 1.7 percent after the apparel retailer reported third-quarter earnings that were in-line with Wall Street estimates and authorized a new $500 million share repurchase plan. Shares of Foot Locker fell 7.5 percent after it reported results.

The day's earnings calendar includes quarterly results from J.M. Smucker and D.R. Horton . The day's economic agenda includes the Economic Cycle Research Institute's (ECRI) weekly index of economic activity for November 13.

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