U.S. PRE-MARKET INDICATORS

-Dow Industrial futures up 43 points.

-S&P 500 futures up 6 points.

-Nasdaq 100 futures up 7 points.

-Nasdaq-100 Pre-Market Indicator up 3.77 at 1617.99.

GLOBAL SENTIMENT

Nikkei down 1.4%

Hang Seng down 0.6%

FTSE-100 up 1.2%

PRE-MARKET SECTOR WATCH

(+) Large cap tech: mostly firmer

(-,+) Chip stocks: mixed

(+,-) Small cap stocks: mixed

(+,-) Drug stocks: mixed

(+) Software stocks: mostly firmer

(+,-) Internet stocks: mixed

(+) Financial stocks: firmer

(-,+) Auto stocks: mixed

(-,+) Airline stocks: mixed

(+,-) Retail stocks: mixed

DOWNSIDE MOVERS

(-) HIBB (-12.4%) holding after-hours loss that followed Q2 miss, lowered outlook.

(-) BRCD (-7.2%) adding to downside after-hours range after revenue miss.

(-) ANN (-4%) beats with EPS though sales miss.

(-) INTU (-4.8%) seeing continued downside afer reporting quarterly miss in after-hours.

UPSIDE MOVERS

(+) CRM (+9.7%) continues upside action that followed earnings beat, raised guidance.

(+) CAT (+0.3%) reportedly eyeing China truck JV with Navistar (NAV).

(+) QTWW (+7.5%) regains Nasdaq compliance.

(+) AIG (+5.4%) firms as CEO reportedly said company expected to repay federal debt.

(+) SJM (+3.5%) beats with Q1 and guides for FY EPS in line.

(+) MENT(+10.2%) continues upside after easily beating with Q2 results reported last evening.

MARKET DIRECTION

Stock futures are firmer but more consolidation may lie ahead for the broader stock market.

Trading influences Friday will include a scheduled speech from Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and housing market data. Stocks ended higher Thursday, helped by financial shares. European shares recovered to trade higher Friday.

Wall Street expects July existing-home sales to rise to 5 million from 4.89 million a month earlier.

Bernanke will deliver a 10 a.m. ET speech at the Fed's annual meetings in Jackson Hole, Wyo.

Wall Street is looking for more clues on when the central bank might opt to remove more of its accomodative credit policy and for his latest view of economic conditions.

Ahead of the U.S. reports, a closely watched gauge of economic activity across the 16-nation euro-zone private sector posted a record jump. The preliminary Markit composite purchasing managers' index for the euro zone rose to a 15-month high of 50 in August from 47.0 in July. The record monthly jump exceeded economists' expectations for a rise to 48.3.

Crude futures earlier hit $74.05/barrel for the first time this year. The dollar is lower and Treasury yields are near a one-month low. Earnings news is largely mixed this morning.

In company news, Salesforce.com (CRM) is off to early higher start after hiking its outlook in last evening's extended hours.

Gap (GPS) is gaining following its extended-hours results, in which the retailer reported weaker earnings but beat the Street view.

Among the decliners:

Brocade Communications (BRCD) declines after the company last evening reported Q3 revs of $493.3 mln, below the analyst mean of $504 mln on Thomson Reuters. Non-GAAP EPS was $0.12 per share, a penny better than the Street view.

Ann Taylor (ANN) is lower after it says it earned $0.06 per share in Q2, less items, above the Thomson Reuters estimate for $0.02. Sales were $470.2 million, below the consensus for $472.21 million. For Q3, it expects a slight sequential improvement in total sales.