NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Stocks were poised to start mixed Friday, with investors cautious after the previous day's rally.

S&P and Nasdaq futures posted small gains, reversing earlier declines, in before-hours trading.

Stocks rallied smartly Thursday as investors expressed optimism about economic growth after upbeat reports on employment and manufacturing, as well as a number of stock upgrades. The Dow, Nasdaq and S&P all rose at least 1 percent. (For more on Thursday's markets, click on the chart).

Friday brings no major economic news or corporate earnings reports.

It does bring the quarterly expiration of options and futures, which can make for a volatile trading session.

Some investors and veteran market watchers are saying that this quarter's "quadruple witching" expiration of index futures and options as well as stock futures and options could give the market a boost, mostly due to bets by investors that amount to pent-up demand for stocks.

"These things are never for-certain, but it looks very bullish," Larry McMillan of McMillan Analysis told CNN/Money earlier this week.

Of course, these things don't always pan out the way investing experts think they will, and the market did get a nice pop Thursday.

Overseas, stocks rallied in Asia, with Tokyo's Nikkei index jumping 1.8 percent, while equities traded mostly higher at midday in Europe.

Treasury bond prices fell, raising the yield on the 10-year bond to 4.14 percent from 4.12 percent late Thursday. Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions.

After falling to record lows all week, the dollar edged higher against the euro, and also rose against the Japanese yen.

Oil prices edged higher Friday.

Some individual stock news garnered attention early Friday.

Nike (NKE: Research, Estimates) said profit rose 16 percent, topping Wall Street forecasts, but its stock slipped 2.4 percent in after-hours trading on Instinet.

Red Hat (RHAT: Research, Estimates), a leading distributor of Linux software, reported a third-quarter profit on a healthy jump in revenue, and its shares jumped 9 percent in before-hours trading on Instinet.

Shares of Atlantic Coast Air (ACAI: Research, Estimates) sank 14 percent on Instinet after the company said the Justice Department issued a preliminary injunction to block Mesa's proposed acquisition of the company, due to alleged antitrust violations.

For more on those stocks and other issues that could be active Friday, click here.  

--Reuters contributed to this report