NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - As tension in south Asia continued with a bomb explosion in Pakistan, U.S. stocks looked to open lower Friday as the already weak wireless sector took another hit.

Merrill Lynch said pricing power risks remain for the companies in the wireless sector, and that the prospects for consolidation are not clear.

Merrill's action follows Sprint's advisory late Thursday that its PCS wireless unit has cut its target for new customer growth this year by 10 to 15 percent. Sprint said both its long-distance service and wireless units still expect to meet full-year earnings forecasts, but that revenue for the long-distance unit, traded with the stock symbol "FON (FON: Research, Estimates)," will be below previous expectations.

On Friday morning J.P. Morgan cut Sprint PCS to "market perform" from "buy," while Salomon Smith Barney cut it to "neutral" from "outperform." Morgan Stanley followed suit, cutting the stock to "equal-weight" from "overweight" and Legg Mason cut Spring PCS to "sell" from "hold."

Sprint PCS (PCS: Research, Estimates) fell $1.34 to $4.65 in before-hours trading on Instinet, while the FON stock was $2.79 lower at $11.50. Rival AT&T Wireless (AWE: Research, Estimates) lost $1.15 to $5.20.

The 2002 and 2003 loss estimate for telecom equipment maker Lucent Technologies (LU: Research, Estimates) was widened by Salomon Smith Barney. Lucent, which issued its own revenue warning Thursday, fell 15 cents to $2.65 before hours.

Continuing international tension could also have an effect on the markets.

At least eight people were reported killed when, according to authorities, a suicide bomber drove a car laden with explosives past a checkpoint at the U.S. consulate in Karachi. Officials say all of those killed were Pakistani nationals.

Turmoil throughout the world -- in south Asia, the Middle East and the concern about possible terrorism in the United States -- has jolted U.S. markets for much of 2002. Friday's incident does nothing to allay those concerns.

Friday's economic news had little effect on the futures indices.

The Commerce Department said business inventories fell 0.2 percent in April after falling a revised 0.4 percent in March. April's decline matched the expectations of economists surveyed by Briefing.com.

Industrial production rose 0.2 percent in May, less than the 0.4 percent increase economists expected and the revised 0.3 percent increase in April. Capacity utilization edged up to 75.5 percent from a revised 75.4 percent.

After trading starts, the University of Michigan's preliminary consumer sentiment index for June will be released to subscribers. The index is expected to decline to 96.6 from 96.9.

The Dow Jones industrial average and Nasdaq composite index are coming off sizeable losses Thursday (see chart). The Nasdaq starts the session at its lowest point since Sept. 27, just six days after the low hit following the terrorist attacks against New York and the Pentagon outside Washington.

Part of the cause for Thursday's downturn was a weaker-than-expected report on May retail sales, and one analyst said that report still hangs over investors.

"Yesterday's retail sales numbers weren't fantastic, down 0.9 percent," said Khurma Chaudhry, equity strategist with Merrill Lynch in London. "That was one aspect of the economy that had been growing. And now investors are saying that if the consumer is not holding up then what is actually happening in the U.S.?"

Asian-Pacific stocks, shaken by the Karachi blast, finished lower Friday; Tokyo's Nikkei index lost 2 percent. European markets slid in early trading.

Treasury prices rose in early trading, sending the 10-year note yield down to 4.83 percent from 4.90 percent late Thursday. The dollar retreated against the yen and euro.

Brent oil futures rose 3 cents to $24.75 a barrel in London. Gold gained modestly, hovering near the $320 an ounce mark.

WR Hambrecht delivered a cautious note on Adobe Systems (ADBE: Research, Estimates) a day after the software maker reported fiscal second-quarter earnings down from a year earlier and warned of sluggish sales in the current quarter. The brokerage firm said the third-quarter outlook is bad for the stock "and will trump modest second-quarter upside surprise. Even with reduced guidance the third and fourth-quarter numbers still look tough to make." The firm reiterated a "market underperform" rating on the stock.

Adobe Shares fell $2.77 to $33.42 in before-hours trading.

Merrill Lynch upgraded independent power producer International Power (IPR: Research, Estimates) to "neutral" from "reduce-sell," saying it believes the company is in a stronger position compared to its peers, although upside to the stock appears limited. The company's shares fell 17 cents to $27.27 Thursday.