Futures gain on personal spending

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- U.S. stock markets looked set to open higher Friday as personal income and spending numbers came in above expectations.

But oil's sustained gains and accounting problems at tech bellwether Dell could hurt U.S. stocks Friday, the final trading day of 2007's first quarter.

At 8:30 a.m. ET, Nasdaq futures were up slightly while S&P futures added were more solidly higher.

Personal income rose 0.6 percent, as economists surveyed by Briefing.com forecasted a 0.3 percent gain.

Spending increased 0.6 percent, compared to expectations of a 0.3 percent increase.

U.S. light crude continued its climb above $66 a barrel in electronic trading amid continuing concerns about tensions between Iran and the west. At 8:43 a.m. ET, the May contract was up 39 cents to $66.42.

After the close Thursday, computer maker Dell announced that an internal probe had uncovered evidence of misconduct, accounting errors and deficiencies in its financial controls, and that it would miss a deadline to file its annual results with the Securtities and Exchange Commission.

Shares of Dell (Charts) lost 2.4 percent in after-hours trading.

Stocks in Asia closed the quarter with gains in most major indexes Friday. But stocks in Europe were mostly lower in early trading.

Jason Leander, vice president at Rothschild Investment Corp. in Chicago, said the bad news out of Dell, while it appears to be company specific, could feed a general uneasiness among many traders, especially as the quarter comes to a close and investors are on alert for earnings warnings from companies.

"I don't think there's much enthusiasm in the market as whole," said Leander. "This will add an air of tentativeness."

Treasury prices edged up, cutting the U.S. 10-year note yield to 4.63 percent from 4.64 percent late Thursday. The dollar was narrowly higher against the euro and the yen.

In other corporate news, dissident shareholders won control of Take-Two Interactive Software (Charts) and ousted CEO Paul Eibeler. Investors cheered the after-hours announcement Thursday, sending shares up 6.5 percent in extended trading.

Newspaper and television station conglomerate Tribune (Charts) reportedly received an 11th hour bid for the company from Los Angeles billionaires Eli Broad and Ron Burkle that topped a bid from Chicago real estate magnate Sam Zell. Sources said the new bid values the company at $34 a share.

Meanwhile the Detroit News reported that three groups of private equity firms were said to be finalizing bids to submit to DaimlerChrysler (Charts) for its Chrysler Group unit.

United Technologies (Charts) agreed to a $1.2 billion acquisition for the electronic security unit of British firm Rentokil Initial.

Exxon Mobil (Charts) signed a deal with China Petroleum & Chemical Corp and Saudi Aramco to invest $5 billion between them in Chinese refineries and a chain of 750 gas stations in southeastern China's Fujian province.

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