NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - U.S. stocks tiptoed higher at the open Friday as investors awaited the latest report from the U.N. chief weapons inspector to the Security Council on findings in Iraq and a key economic report on consumer confidence.

Investors also digested a better-than-expected report on industrial production and capacity utilization and an in-line quarterly earnings report from Dell Computer.

Around 9:35 a.m., the Dow Jones industrial average (up 30.78 to 7780.65, Charts), the Nasdaq composite (up 9.62 to 1287.06, Charts) and the S&P 500 index (up 3.94 to 821.31, Charts) all claimed slight gains.

All three indexes logged losses Thursday, pushing them one step closer to their five-year lows reached last October. After four weeks of declines, the market was still within range to end this week higher.

Chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix is set to present his team's findings in Iraq to the U.N. Security Council around 10 a.m. ET. Reports said he would discuss whether the country has weapons of mass destruction and indicate that Iraq has been more cooperative lately. Earlier in the week, Iraq said it would allow U2 surveillance planes to fly over the country.

Shortly after the start of trading, the University of Michigan will release its preliminary consumer sentiment reading for February. Economists expect it to have declined to 81.9 from 82.4 in January, according to a consensus of economists surveyed by Briefing.com.

Before the opening bell, the government released two other positive economic reports.

It said industrial production rose 0.7 percent in January, from a slip of 0.2 in December, and better than the expected 0.3 rise. In addition, capacity utilization rose to 75.7 percent, also a number that was higher than expected.

Meanwhile, the Commerce Department said business inventories grew 0.6 percent in December to a seasonally adjusted $1.143 trillion after a revised rise of 0.3 percent a month earlier. December's gain was greater than the 0.2 percent increase economists on Wall Street had expected.

After the close Thursday, Dell Computer (DELL: Research, Estimates) reported higher fiscal fourth-quarter earnings that were in line with expectations. The No. 2 PC maker also says it expects to meet forecasts for the current quarter, in contrast to what some analysts were fearing prior to the report.

European markets were mostly higher at midday, while Asian-Pacific markets ended mixed.

Treasury prices slipped, raising the yield to 3.89 percent from 3.88 percent late Thursday. The dollar slipped against the yen, but edged up versus the euro.

Brent oil futures for April delivery rose 10 cents to $32.56 a barrel in London. Gold for April delivery slipped $1.50 an ounce to $56.20 in early trading.