NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Worries about the pending oil production cuts from OPEC could cancel out generally strong earnings reports from a flood of major companies Thursday.

Stock futures, which predict where U.S. markets are likely to open, were mixed in early trading, as the blue chip S&P 500 futures pointed slightly higher while the tech-heavy Nasdaq futures were in negative territory.

Oil prices were slightly higher ahead of any announcements out of the OPEC meeting in Vienna. OPEC President Edmund Daukoru said he expects the oil cartel to cut production by a minimum of 1 million barrels a day.

U.S. light crude was up 27 cents to $57.92 a barrel in electronic trading, while Brent crude trading in London was 19 cents higher at $59.77.

Falling oil prices and strong earnings helped lift the Dow above 12,000 for the first time, although the latest record close was just short of that benchmark.

Apple Computer (Charts) reported earnings that easily topped Wall Street expectations, although its guidance for the current period were a bit below forecasts.

Online auction site eBay (Charts) saw shares rise after reporting better than expected results as well. But chip maker Advance Micro Devices posted improved earnings that fell short of forecasts.

In addition, four Dow components reported better than expected results, and a fifth, McDonald's (Charts), reported improved results that met its recently raised guidance.

Citigroup (Charts) reported better than expected earnings early Thursday, an competitor Bank of America (Charts) also topped forecasts.

Coca-Cola (Charts) posted improved results. Drugmaker Pfizer (Charts) saw earnings edge past forecasts. Conglomerate Honeywell (Charts) was the final Dow component to report better than expected results Thursday.

After the bell Internet bellwether Google (Charts) is due to report results

In non-earnings news, Wal-Mart Stores (Charts) announced Thursday it will offer $4 prescriptions for some generic drugs to 14 more states, expanding the program it rolled out in Florida two weeks ago. The No. 1 retailer also announced late Wednesday it was cutting prices on more than 100 toys and games, perhaps sparking a holiday shopping season price war among toy retailers.

The Wall Street Journal reported that General Electric (Charts) television unit NBC Universal is set to announce it is slashing its news budget and abandoning high-cost dramas in the 8 p.m. hour in an effort to trim costs by $750 million, a move that will cost about 700 jobs, or about 5 percent of its staff.

Treasury prices were lower, lifting the yield on the 10-year note to 4.78 percent level from the 4.76 percent level reached late Wednesday. The dollar was lower against both the euro and the yen.

The only pre-market economic reading Thursday is initial jobless claims, which fell to 299,000 last week, down from 309,000 the previous week. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com had forecast 310,000 claims.

Stocks closed mostly lower in Asia. After the close of markets there, electronics and entertainment conglomerate Sony slashed its earnings outlook, citing heavy costs for recalls of its laptop PC batteries. Stocks also were lower in early trading in Europe.