NEW YORK (CNN/Money) -
A deal by OPEC to curtail production that's meant to boost oil prices had stocks poised for a lower start Friday.
S&P and Nasdaq futures remained slightly lower, even as oil prices slipped from earlier highs after OPEC ministers in Cairo agreed to cut production by the cartel by about 1 million barrels a day.
U.S. light sweet crude for January delivery rose 40 cents to $42.93 a barrel in electronic trading, but that was off a high of $43.29 hit earlier. Brent oil futures rose 50 cents to $40.17 a barrel in London.
Investors will also be considering a number of economic reports, including wholesale prices and consumer confidence, as well as reports of a possible merger between Sprint (Research) and Nextel (Research). Both phone companies' stocks rose on news of a possible deal, which published reports valued at about $30 billion.
The deal is seen as a merger of equals, which would create a provider with about 39 million customers, putting the combined company close to the size of the nation's two largest U.S. wireless companies, Cingular Wireless and Verizon Wireless.
Major Asian markets closed lower Friday ahead of the OPEC meeting, while European markets opened higher.
Bond prices were little changed, leaving the 10-year treasury yield near 4.16 percent.
The dollar gained on both the euro and the yen, sending gold prices lower.
The producer price index, which measures wholesale prices, roiled bond markets a month ago with an unexpectedly large jump.
Economists surveyed by Briefing.com forecast that the PPI gained only 0.1 percent in November, compared to the 1.7 percent gain in October. The so-called core PPI, which excludes often volatile food and energy prices, is forecast to be up 0.2 percent, compared to the 0.3 percent gain in October.
The University of Michigan's preliminary reading on consumer confidence in December is due out just after the market opens. Economists forecast that the confidence index rose to 93.5 from 92.8 at the end of November.
In corporate news, Johnson & Johnson (Research) is reported to be getting closer to a deal to buy medical-device maker Guidant (Research) for about $24 billion, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal, which said the boards are set to meet Sunday to finalize the deal.
The Journal reports that Guidant shareholders would get $75 a share, with about $25 coming in cash and $50 of that in J&J stock. That would represent only a 1.7 percent premium for Guidant shareholders from current prices, as Guidant shares closed unchanged Thursday, at $73.75. But it'd be up 9 percent from before the first reports on the deal earlier in the week. Shares of J&J, a component of the Dow Jones industrial average, gained 16 cents to $61.31 in Thursday trading.
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