U.S. stock index futures turned higher in choppy pre-market trading Friday, ahead of President Barack Obama's first face-to-face meeting with congressional leaders on the "fiscal cliff" since his re-election.
The talks are scheduled to start at 10:15 a.m. ET.
"It could go either way. I don't know that anyone has any fantastic visibility of what's going to come out of the meeting," said Gina Martin Adams, head of institutional equity strategy at Wells Fargo Securities. (Read More: What Traders Hope For and Fear in 'Fiscal Cliff' Talks)
White House officials are said to be in advanced talks to replace the so-called sequester—a slew of spending cuts that along with tax increases will take place automatically at the end of the year and likely put the U.S. into recession—with a package of smaller, more targeted spending cuts and tax increases, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.
The sequester would cut spending by about $100 billion in 2013 and beyond and affect myriad federal programs.
Worries over the fiscal cliff have pressured stocks ever since last week's presidential election, pushing major indexes down more than 5 percent across the board. The fiscal cliff refers to large tax increases and spending cuts that will take place at the beginning of 2013, which could push the economy into recession, if there is no budget deal.