Stocks in standstill mode

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Stocks were little changed early Friday ahead of a widely anticipated report on home sales.

The Dow Jones industrial average (down 7.05 to 12,454.09, Charts), the broader S&P 500 (down 0.34 to 1,434.20, Charts) index and the Nasdaq (up 0.31 to 2,452.05, Charts) composite all gave up a few points.

Investors will be looking at the report due at 10 a.m. ET on sales of existing homes from the National Association of Realtors.

Peter Cardillo, chief market economist with Avalon Partners, said that the housing number is likely to be a key event for the day, and that it has more potential to hurt stocks than help.

A soft number on sales or home prices could lift equities by feeding recent hopes for an interest rate cut from the Federal Reserve, he said, but a much weaker than expected number could raise concern that housing will be more of a drag on the economy going forward than now feared.

A better than expected home sales report could also hurt stocks, Cardillo predicted, because it would work against the hopes of a rate cut.

The housing market is being especially eyed in the wake of massive defaults on subprime mortgages that some fear could cause trouble in the broader economy.

In corporate news, biotech firm Amgen canceled a key clinical trial of colon cancer treatment Vectibix after discovering that the drug reduced chances of survival. Amgen shares fell about 4 percent in early trade.

General Motors will pay stock bonuses to its top executives for the first time since 2003 after the company reversed a 2005 loss to make money in 2006.

Business software maker Oracle sued German rival SAP on Thursday for "corporate theft on a grand scale," claiming its business software rival used customers' online access codes to steal copyrighted software.

XM Satellite was hit by a lawsuit by the National Music Publishers' Association that charged the satellite radio service is providing subscribers with equipment that allegedly let users reproduce and distribute copyrighted music without paying appropriate royalties.

The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that Citigroup may enter the bidding for Dutch bank ABN AMRO, which is in discussions about a possible merger with British bank Barclays.

Oil turned higher following a report of 15 British marines being seized by Iran. U.S. light crude rallied 86 cents to $62.55 a barrel in electronic trading.

Stocks in Asia closed mostly higher, although the Kospi in Seoul closed slightly lower. Major indexes in Europe were higher in midday trading.

Treasury prices were flat, with the U.S. 10-year note yield at 4.58 percent.

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