NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- U.S. stocks appeared ready to open higher, despite a report that showed an unexpected drop in retail sales as well as another intraday record high for oil, which topped $78 a barrel as violence between Hezbollah and Israel escalated.

After briefly pointing to a lower open immediately after the retail sales report, futures rebounded to point higher in the half-hour before the market open.

Sales in June were off 0.1 percent, rather than the 0.4 percent gain forecast by economists. Strong consumer spending, which accounts for more than two-thirds of the nation's economic activity, has been a key to supporting growth in the face of higher oil prices and interest rates. But the outlook of an economic slowdown raised hopes that the Federal Reserve might halt its course of rate hikes sooner rather than later.

Oil reached as high as $78.40 a barrel in electronic trading early Friday before retreating more than a dollar, as Israel aircraft bombed a runway at Beirut's airport in its campaign against Hezbollah militants.

At 9:15 a.m. ET, U.S. light crude was up $1.03 to $77.73 a barrel after setting a settlement record of $76.70 Thursday. Brent crude in London was up 71 cents at $77.40.

The higher oil prices were weighing on overseas stock markets, though. Major markets in Asia closed lower after the Bank of Japan raised interest rates to 0.25 percent, although the central bank there added that low interest rates would probably be maintained for some time.

Major European indexes were also lower in early trading.

Treasury prices were little changed, with the 10-year note yield near the 5.07 percent level reached late Thursday, although that yield was up slightly from earlier in the morning. The dollar was higher against the euro and the yen following the BOJ move.

In corporate news, General Electric (Charts), the No. 2 company in terms of market capitalization shares, was slightly lower in pre-market trading after the company reported earnings growth that hit forecasts. But the diversified manufacturing, finance and media conglomerate said its third-quarter results would be 48 to 50 cents a share, which would be at or below the consensus estimate.

Shares of General Motors (Charts) fell nearly 4 percent in European trading after Carlos Ghosn, the CEO of Nissan (Charts) and Renault, said he did not want to be CEO of GM even if the three companies reach an agreement on an alliance with joint ownership of each other's shares.

Ghosn first revealed his lack of interest in the GM post in an interview with CNN and CNNMoney.com.

Petco Animal Supplies (Charts) agreed Friday to be acquired by two private equity groups for about $1.7 billion in cash, a premium of the latest in a string of retailers agreeing to go private.

Related: More on U.S. markets ahead of the open.