Stocks: Choppy waters ahead for investors

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NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- U.S. stocks were set to open slightly lower Friday, as investors remain nervous about the slowing economic recovery.

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

On Thursday stocks snapped a six-day losing streak, with all three major market gauges ending the session higher.

Despite the rebound Thursday, market sentiment is still pessimistic. The Dow and S&P 500 are on pace to post their sixth-consecutive weekly loss.

The selling has been driven by concerns about the economy, following a series of weak reports on the job market, housing and manufacturing activity.

"Certainly weaker economic activity is on the minds of investors," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Avalon Partners.

With no top-tier economic reports on the agenda Friday, Cardillo said he expects trading to be choppy as the market tests recent lows.

"Traders continue to focus on the technical aspect of the market," he said. "Yesterday we managed to reverse course, but I think the technical erosion is still in place."

Cardillo said the S&P 500 could slip to the 1,275 level before finding some support. The broad stock index closed at 1,289 on Thursday.

Companies: Toyota (TM) released its forecast for the fiscal year 2012 Friday morning. The auto giant said the fallout from the March earthquake and tsunami will continue to hurt sales, and cause supply disruptions across the industry.

In it's report, Toyota said it could lose $1.6 billion in profits in the current fiscal year. The automaker said it also expects consolidated net income to drop 31% to $3.4 billion in the next fiscal year ending March 31.

Toyota also forecast operating income to drop about 35% for the next business year, based on current exchange rates between the yen and the US dollar.

Lululemon Athletica's (LULU) stock jumped nearly 3% after the maker of athletic clothing reported a profit that topped estimates and raised its outook.

Shares of Fusion-io (FIO) extended their rally, rising 4% in premarket trading. Fusion-io made its public debut Thursday after raising $233.7 million through an initial public offering.

Online music streaming company Pandora said it would sell a total of 14.7 million shares through its previously announced IPO at a price range of $10-$12 a share.

Avaya, which makes telecom equipment, filed Thursday to raise up to $1 billion in a public offering. The company joins a crowd of tech companies rushing to take advantage of a suddenly friendly IPO climate.

Ally Financial, formerly the financial services arm of GM (GM, Fortune 500), has decided to delay its $5 billion initial public offering, according to reports. The company has been owned by U.S. taxpayers since GM was rescued by the government in the recession.

Comcast (CMCSA, Fortune 500) and Micron Technology (MU, Fortune 500) stocks were also on the move early Friday.

Economy: The government reported import prices for May rose 0.4%, excluding oil. That comes after a 0.6% increase in the prior month.

Excluding agriculture, exports increased by 0.5%. That followed a 1.0% increase in April.

Also on tap, the federal budget deficit for May is slated to be announced at 2 p.m. ET.

World markets: European stocks were lower. Britain's FTSE 100 and the DAX in Germany were down about 0.2%, while France's CAC 40 tumbled 0.6%.

China's monthly trade balance showed a wider surplus in May, although the rate of export growth slowed.

The world's second largest economy reported a $13.05 billion surplus in May, up from its $11.4 billion surplus recorded in April, China's General Administration of Customs said Friday.

Asian markets ended the session mixed. The Shanghai Composite rose nearly 0.1%, and Japan's Nikkei advanced 0.5%, but the Hang Seng in Hong Kong fell 0.8%.

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

Oil for July delivery fell 96 cents to $100.97 a barrel.

Gold futures for August delivery slipped $1.40 to $1,540.70 an ounce.

Bonds: The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury fell, pushing the yield up to 3% from 2.96% late Monday.