G-20 meeting hovers over stocks

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- U.S. stocks were set to open little changed Friday as investors took a wait-and-see approach to the G-20 meeting of finance ministers underway in France.

Dow Jones industrial average (INDU), S&P 500 (SPX) and Nasdaq (COMP) futures were straddling the breakeven lines ahead of the opening bell. Futures measure current index values against perceived future performance.

"There's no economic news today so the market will be focused on the G-20 meeting," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Avalon Partners. "Investors are waiting to see if emerging markets will take steps toward addressing high inflation, mainly in food prices, which is a major problem in the global economy."

Cardillo expects trading volume will be light and markets will drift ahead of a long weekend. U.S. markets will be closed Monday for the Presidents Day holiday.

U.S. stocks ended at fresh multi-year highs Thursday, as investors focused on an upbeat manufacturing report and looked past indications that inflation is heating up.

G20: The two-day G-20 meeting of finance ministers and central bankers got underway in Paris.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke spoke on a panel of central bankers, including the heads of the European Central Bank, the Bank of England and the People's Bank of China.

Bernanke said unbalanced flows of money between nations is again posing a risk to the global economy and financial stability, adding that the uneven flow of funds into the United States from 2003 to 2007 were one of the key factors that led to the meltdown in financial markets in 2008.

Later in the day, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner will speak.

World markets: European stocks were lower in midday trading. Britain's FTSE 100 fell 0.5%, the DAX in Germany edged lower almost 0.2% and France's CAC 40 was flat.

China's central bank will raise the reserve requirement ratio for the nation's banks by half a percentage point, marking the second increase so far this year. The government hiked the reserve requirement six times in 2010, as the nation attempts to combat inflation.

Asian markets ended mixed. The Shanghai Composite stumbled 0.9%, while the Hang Seng in Hong Kong gained almost 1.3% and Japan's Nikkei ticked up about 0.1%.

Currencies and commodities: The dollar gained strength against the euro and the Japanese yen, but fell versus the British pound.

Oil for April delivery edged up 36 cents to $89.20 a barrel.

Gold futures for April delivery rose $1.50 to $1,386.60 an ounce.

Bonds: The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury fell, pushing the yield up to 3.59% from 3.57% late Thursday.