US Stock Futures Look Set For A Mixed Start On Day Devoid Of Much Direction In The Form Of Earnings; Industrial Production And Consumer Sentiment Numbers To Be Watched

As the U.S. east coast prepares for more snow, slush, ice and general wintry weather, investors might be hard pressed to glean direction from the handful of earnings and data points slated for a Friday release.

Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were down 0.01 percent but futures on the S&P 500 were up 0.03 percent while those on the Nasdaq were up 0.08 percent. On Thursday, the Dow rose 0.4 percent and the S&P 500 climbed 0.58 percent while the Nasdaq rose nearly 1 percent.

On the earnings front, Campbell Soup Company (NYSE:CPB), Hyatt Hotels Corporation (NYSE:H) and Scripps Networks Interactive, Inc. (NYSE:SNI) are among those scheduled to declare quarterly earnings before markets open.

Data on industrial production for December is due at 9:15 a.m. EST while the Thomson-Reuters/University of Michigan consumer sentiment index for February is scheduled for a 9:55 a.m. release.

In Europe, stocks were up after GDP estimates for the last quarter of 2013 came in above consensus forecasts. The Stoxx Europe 600 index was trading up 0.36 percent while the FTSE 100 was up 0.1 percent. Germany’s DAX-30 was up 0.53 percent and France's CAC-40 was up 0.37 percent.

In Asia too, markets were up with the exception of Japan’s Nikkei-225, which fell 1.53 percent. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 climbed 0.91 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was up 0.6 percent and the Shanghai Composite was up 0.83 percent. South Korea’s Kospi was up 0.69 percent, while India’s BSE Sensex rose 0.86 percent.