[R]9:00AM Wall Street to open modestly higher ahead of housing data.[/R]
U.S. stock markets looked poised for moderately higher opening on Friday, awaiting key economic data on housing starts. Wall Street expects a decline in sales after jumping to 6.46 million in January. The Federal Reserve said earlier this week that an ‘adjustment’ in the housing sector was continuing, offering some relief for investors concerned about the troubled subprime mortgage market. Among companies in focus, shares of Amgen (AMGN: chart) dropped 4.2% in pre-open trade after it halted a study due to poor survival in patients that used Vectibix along with Genentech''s (DNA: chart) Avastin and chemotherapy to treat colorectal cancer.

In earnings news, Nike (NKE: chart) slipped 2% after the athletic apparel maker reported an 8% profit rise but issued a soft gross margin forecast. Palm (PALM: chart) lost 1.1% in pre-open trade after UBS still downgraded the maker of handheld devices, citing its recent stock price run. The cpompany reported a better-than-forecast quarterly profit. Jabil Circuit (JBL: chart) dropped 8.3% after releasing disappointing forecasts. On the merger-and-acquisition news front, Acciona and Enel (EN: chart) said they're considering a joint bid for Spanish utility Endesa (ELE: chart), that could top the $55 billion offer from Germany's E.On. S&P 500 futures rose 1.3 points at 1,446.30 and Nasdaq 100 futures rose a point at 1,819.75. Dow industrial futures rose 4 points.