Futures bounced up and down Friday as investors tried to make sense of a report that showed the economy shrunk less than expected in the fourth quarter.
Gross domestic product dropped 3.8 percentin the first of three readings on Q4 GDP, much less than the 5.3-percent drop expected.
Other economic releases scheduled for Friday include: Chicago PMI for Jan, out at 9:45 am and final consumer sentiment numbers for Jan at 9:55 am.
In early premarket trading, shares of Citigroup fell 2.3 percent while Bank of America was off 1.6 percent.
Futures also faced pressure from Procter & Gamble earnings after the Dow component met analyst expectations of a $1.58 per share profit for the previous quarter but saw total sales shrink unexpectedly. P&G shares were off 2.5 percent premarket.
And Caterpillar shares dropped more than 1 percent after Goldman Sachs added the company to its conviction sell list, maintaining that the construction equipment manufacturer faces a difficult year that could include a 50 percent drop in earnings and a dividend cut.
Also in early earnings, Honeywell shares edged higher after the company appeared to meet Wall Street expectations of a 97 cent per share profit.
In pharma deal news, shares of Genentech gained 1 percent premarket as Roche launched a hostile $86.50 bid after a previous offer of $89 was rejected.
Officials from the Obama administration pushed on with the creation of “bad banks” to buy toxic assets by holding around the clock meetings with senior Wall Street executives, CNBC has learned.
Meanwhile, President Barack Obama took a swipe at Wall Street bankers Thursday by describing huge bonuses as irresponsible and shameful at a time of economic crisis.
Staying in politics, Gov. Rod Blagojevich was thrown out of office Thursday after being unanimously convicted at his impeachment trial. He was arrested on charges of trying to sell Obama's vacant Senate seat.
Online retailer Amazon.com beat earnings expectations after the bellThursday, pushing its shares up more than 13 percent premarket.
Also on the earnings front, oil giants Exxon and Chevron are expected to report results before the bell.