Peter Nurse   

Investing.com – U.S. stocks are seen opening in a muted fashion Friday, with investors turning their attention to quarterly earnings from the major U.S. banks after the previous session’s sharp selloff.

The contract traded flat at 7:01 AM ET (1200 GMT) while it dropped 15 points or 0.1%.

Wall Street’s major indexes were sharply down Thursday. The leading indicator was the drop. This tech-heavy index dropped 2.5% to end a 3-day winning streak. It was due to investors’ expectations for higher interest rates in the wake of rising inflation and Fed-hawkish talk.

The focus will likely shift towards Friday, when JPMorgan (NYSE 🙂 starts the real fourth-quarter earnings seasons. Citigroup (NYSE: Wells Fargo (NYSE:) Results released before the market opens

Expect big banks to reap the benefits of higher bond yields. Investors will be paying attention to the views of executives about consumer and business borrowing, as well as the state of the economy.

According to Refinitiv’s IBES data, the year-over year earnings growth of companies will be lower in the fourth quarter than the three previous quarters, but it is still expected to grow at 22.4%.

Elsewhere, Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:) could be in focus after a South African study showed the drugmaker’s Covid-19 vaccine booster shot is 85% effective in protecting against being hospitalized by the Omicron variant for 1-2 months after it is received.

There is also a full economic data slate to study, with December expected to decline by 0.1% month-on-month after rising 0.3% the previous month, December seen rising 0.3% on the month, and the seen deteriorating slightly to 70 from December’s 70.6. 

On Friday oil prices traded higher and are expected to trade higher this week due to tight supplies market conditions, as well as a fall in inventories from 2018’s lows.

Traders are likely to pay attention to both the weekly and positioning data being released later in the session. 

U.S. crude futures rose 0.7%, to $82.71 per barrel, and the contract rose 0.8%, to $85.16, a new two-month high.

Furthermore, it rose 0.1% to $1.822.25/oz and traded 0.1% higher at 1.1455.