By Peter Nurse   

Investing.com – U.S. stocks are seen opening marginally lower Friday, with investors ending the week on a cautious note ahead of key sentiment data and with an eye on next week’s Federal Reserve meeting.

At 7 AM ET (1100 GMT), the contract was down 70 points, or 0.2%, traded 10 points, or 0.2%, lower, while dropped 35 points, or 0.2%.

Although the main indexes have been marginally higher this week so far, September was difficult due to regulatory concerns in China and rising Covid-19 death rates, insufficient valuations, and uncertainty about central bank monetary stimulus.

The blue chip is down 1.7% so far this month, the broad-based is off by 1.1% and the tech-heavy has lost 0.5%.

Next week’s Federal Reserve is limiting trading activity amid uncertainty over whether the central bank will announce a timeline for asset tapering, but Friday’s Quadruple Witching Day, when contracts on four different types of financial assets expire, could prompt more volatility.

The main data release is the preliminary reading of the University of Michigan’s , at 10 AM ET (1400 GMT), which is seen improving to 72 from August’s 70.3. 

In corporate news, Invesco (NYSE:) will be in the spotlight after the Wall Street Journal reported that the investment management company is in talks to merge with State Street ‘s (NYSE:) asset-management business.

Boeing (NYSE) is also in the spotlight following a report that a pilot of Invesco could be charged with misleading regulators about the safety features of the 737 MAX. 

While crude prices declined Friday due to a slow return of supply in the Gulf of Mexico, which was badly damaged by Hurricane Ida, losses in terms of lower oil prices are still small because of low demand and lagging output.

On Thursday, 28% of Gulf crude output – more than 510,000 barrels per hour – was offline. That’s two weeks since Hurricane Ida struck.

By 7 AM ET, futures traded 0.4% lower at $72.25 a barrel, while the contract fell 0.4% to $75.37. Both contracts will post gains of approximately 4% each week.

The CFTC’s speculative net positioning data and Baker Hughes’ oil rig count  are due later in the session.

Additionally, rose 0.3% to $1,761.10/oz, while traded 0.1% higher at 1.1774.