NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - So much for a Santa Claus rally -- U.S. stock markets are poised for another sour session Friday, putting the Dow industrials at risk of a losing year in 2005's final session.

Futures for the Dow industrials, Nasdaq and S&P 500 were all in negative territory, indicating a weaker open for the U.S. indexes.

Stocks were lower Thursday. Investors opted for caution ahead of the new year amid a rise in oil prices due to lower U.S. fuel supplies and expectations that OPEC will cut output when it meets in January.

Friday's trading is expected to be light with many participants taking an early holiday. But market watchers are going to be keeping a sharp eye on the Dow industrials' close; the blue chip indicator is up less than 2 points for the year and is at risk of finishing 2005 in negative territory.

Oil prices edged lower, hovering just under $60 a barrel. The February light crude futures contract for NYMEX dipped 55 cents to $59.77 a barrel in electronic trading, while the February contract for Brent crude slipped 40 cents to $57.67.

For the fourth day in a row, the Treasury yield curve inverted, with the yield on the 10-year note falling below that of the 2-year note. An inverted yield curve is often interpreted as a signal for an upcoming recession and is putting pressure on market sentiment, although several economists point out that the connection doesn't always apply.

At 7:30 a.m. ET, the yield on the 10-year note stood at 4.35 percent, while the two-year yield was 4.36 percent.

In currency trading, the dollar was little changed against the euro and the yen.

Global markets were under pressure with European indexes falling off their multi-year highs as traders opted to take profits on the last trading day of 2005. Tokyo's Nikkei ended the session lower but for the year the index soared 40.24 percent -- its single best yearly performance since the heydays of the mid-1980s, Reuters reported.

In corporate news, computer giant Intel (Research) is getting a facelift. The company announced a major overhaul of its corporate and product branding, a move designed to symbolize the chip maker's transformation into a supplier for products beyond personal computers.

A Citigroup (Research)-led consortium beat out rival groups led by ABN AMRO and Societe Generale, to win a bid to buy 85 percent of China's Guangdong Development Bank for $3.2 billion, sources told Reuters. Citigroup will kick off exclusive negotiations with Guangdong Bank as early as next week on technical areas including staff benefits, information technology support and new management, Reuters reported.

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