NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Stocks were poised to get off to a strong start Friday after Google earnings gave investors the blowout numbers they've been looking for this earnings period.

U.S. stock futures were up in early trading, indicating a higher opening for stocks, after Google (Research) topped even the upper end of earnings forecasts for the third quarter. Shares of the Internet search engine's stock soared about 10 percent in after-hours trading.

"Everybody has Google fever. I think people realize it's so difficult to really shock the earnings expectation game, when they see a blowout like this, it invigorates the markets," said Anthony Chan, senior economist for JPMorgan Asset Management.

Chan said while he's pleased to see futures higher, he's a little nervous about having a company with such a limited track record as a public company leading the way for stocks.

"Analysts still clearly don't have a handle on Google," he said. "I'd like to see other companies on the deck along with it."

In other earnings news, cell phone maker LM Ericsson (Research) reported improved earnings but missed forecasts. Heavy equipment maker Caterpillar (Research) is the only Dow component set to report results Friday.

Oil prices were slightly lower, falling below the $60 benchmark in early trading, the day after the expiration of the November futures contract.

The December light crude futures contract for NYMEX lost 55 cents to $59.47 a barrel in electronic trading, while the December contract for Brent crude fell 55 cents to $57.36.

Major markets in Asia closed higher Friday. But major European markets were lower in early trading.

Treasury prices were little changed, with the yield on the 10-year note at 4.44 percent. The dollar lost ground against on the euro and the yen.

For a more detailed look at the markets before the open, click here.