Stocks head for lackluster open
U.S. markets lift briefly as personal income defies expectations, then slump.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Stocks were set for a flat start Friday, as investors reacted only briefly after the personal income report trounced expectations.
At 8:47 a.m. ET, S&P 500, Dow Jones industrial average and Nasdaq-100 futures were slightly lower.
Stocks rebounded Thursday, after slumping for most of the week, as investors scooped up commodity, consumer, homebuilding and tech shares that had been beaten down in the recent selloff.
Robert Brusca, chief economist at Fact and Opinion Economics, said Thursday's rally was helped, in part, by Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke's "reassuring" testimony before Congress.
"[Congress] is looking for a scapegoat and they didn't find one yesterday, and that's good for the Fed," said Brusca.
Brusca said the market's "positive tone" has partly carried through to Friday, as evidenced by gains in some European indexes. But he said it's unlikely that a Friday rally, if it happens, would match Thursday's magnitude.
"I'd be surprised to see us go up over 100 points," he said, referring to the Dow, which gained 172 points Thursday.
Going into the week's final session, the Dow is down 65 points, the S&P is down 1 point and the Nasdaq composite is up 2 points
Economy: The Commerce Department reported that May personal income surged 1.4%, which was much higher than expectations.
Income was expected to have risen 0.3% after rising 0.5% in April, according to a survey of economists conducted by Briefing.com.
The government also reported that personal spending rose 0.3% in May, matching expectations, after a 0.1% decline in April.
The PCE deflator, the report's inflation component, edged up 0.1% in May, matching expectations, after rising 0.3% in April.
Companies: Homebuilder KB Home reported (KBH) a fiscal second-quarter loss that wasn't as bad as last year, but it was much worse than expected.
KB Home reported a diluted loss per share of $1.03 in the most recent quarter.
Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters had expected the homebuilder to lose 64 cents per share in the quarter, compared with a loss of $3.30 per share a year earlier.
Other markets: Asian stocks ended higher Friday, with Tokyo's Nikkei index up by 0.8%. London and Frankfurt-stocks advanced in midday trading.
The price of oil for August delivery was practically unchanged, rising 11 cents to $70.34 a barrel.
The dollar fell against major international currencies, including the euro, the yen and British pound. 
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