Tech, economy could crimp stocks

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Technology stocks and the economy could put a damper on U.S. markets when they open Friday.

At 8:45 a.m. ET, Nasdaq and S&P futures were lower.

Advanced Micro Devices (Charts) lowered its earnings and revenue outlook, citing lower prices for chips. Its shares fell over 8 percent in pre-market trade.

German software firm SAP (Charts) said its quarterly profit fell, hurt by slowing sales in the U.S. and an unfavorable exchange rate. Its shares slid nearly 10 percent in Germany.

Federal regulators are looking into a backdated stock option grant awarded to Apple (Charts) chief executive Steve Jobs, the Wall Street Journal reported.

And AT&T (Charts) said its wireless division will cease to be known as Cingular next week, instead taking its own name.

Tony Dwyer, a stock market strategist at FTN Midwest, said investors will be paying particularly close attention to the AMD and Apple news, but said any negative effects on technology overall should be short lived.

"It's my favorite sector still," he said.

The government reported stronger than expected December retail sales, which rose 0.9 percent verses a 0.7 percent increase forecast by Briefing.com.

Excluding autos, retail sales rose 1 percent verses the half percent forecast.

Oil rallied a bit after a week of heavy losses. U.S. light crude rose 14 cents to $52.02 a barrel in electronic trading.

Oil has slid roughly 15 percent since the start of the year. Dwyer said attributing the decline to a global economic slowdown is overblown, and that the move should be good for stocks.

"Oil wasn't at $75 because there was a global economic boom," he said. "That was speculation."

Treasury prices declined. The 10-year note yield rose to 4.78 percent from 4.73 percent late Thursday.

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