NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Stocks looked set to open higher Friday after a slow reading on economic growth and tame inflation numbers reaffirmed thoughts of a soft landing for the economy and sparked hope for future interest rate cuts.

Stock futures, an indication of where stocks will trade in the early going, turned higher shortly after 8:30 a.m. ET.

The first reading on third-quarter gross domestic product, the broad measure of the nation's economic activity, showed a growth rate of 1.6 percent, the slowest pace in more than three years. Economists polled by Briefing.com expected a 2.1 percent annual growth pace for the period, down from a 2.6 percent pace in the second quarter.

The inflation component of the report showed a 1.8 percent increase. Economists had called for a 2.8 percent rise.

A slowdown in housing and home building is expected to be a key drag on growth in the period.

Chevron (Charts) reported quarterly profits that beat Wall Street estimates by 25 cents a share, although revenue was slightly lower.

No. 1 oil company Exxon Mobil trounced Wall Street forecasts with a 26 percent gain in earnings Thursday.

But weighing on stocks earlier in the morning was Microsoft (Charts), which reported late Thursday that its sales and profits jumped in the first quarter. But the company also gave a disappointing forecast for the current quarter.

Earnings reports have been strong this quarter, with 56 percent of the companies in the S&P 500 reporting so far having shown a 20 percent gain in earrings. Those reporting better-than-expected results outnumber those missing forecasts by nearly a six-to-one ratio.

The strong earnings helped lift the Dow Jones industrial average to its 13th record high in the last 18 trading days Thursday, and the Nasdaq also closed at 5-1/2 year high while the S&P 500 approached a six-year high.

Reports earlier this week have shown prices of both new and existing homes posting declines not seen in decades. And in a sign of the slumping housing market, Pulte Home (Charts), the No. 1 builder in terms of market value, announced it is cutting 800 workers, or about 10 percent of its staff.

Oil prices were lower early Friday. U.S. light crude was down 25 cents to $60.11 a barrel in electronic trading, while Brent crude trading in London was 38 cents lower at $60.39.

Treasury prices turned higher following the GDP reading, lowering the yield on the 10-year note to about 4.68 percent from the 4.71 percent level reached late Thursday. The dollar was lower against the euro and the yen.

Stocks in Asia closed mixed after China's largest lender, Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, rolled out a record initial public offering. Stocks in Europe were up in early trading.

Shares of BP were down in London trading after CBS announced its show "60 Minutes" would air a report Sunday citing internal BP documents showing the company knew of safety problems at its Texas City refinery before a March 2005 explosion there that killed 15 workers.

AutoNation, the nation's leading auto dealer holding company, announced it would cut its orders by 30 percent from General Motors (Charts), Ford Motor (Charts) and the Chrysler Group unit at DaimlerChrysler (Charts), suggesting that further production cuts could be ahead for the traditional Big Three automakers.

China's record IPO