Stocks poised to edge higher

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NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- U.S. stocks were set to open the trading day with mild gains Friday, despite new warning signs about a possible downgrade of U.S. debt.

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

U.S. stocks fell Thursday after Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke said that the central bank may not be as willing to move on further stimulus as previously thought.

Late Thursday, U.S. lawmakers got another stern warning from a leading credit rating agency. Standard & Poors said in a statement it was placing the United States' sovereign rating on "CreditWatch with negative implications."

Ian Shepherdson, chief U.S. economist at High Frequency Economics, wrote in a research note that the lack of progress in negotiations is unsettling.

"We always thought the negotiations would go right to the wire, but the lack of any progress at all so far is making us nervous that the risk of reaching August 2 without a deal is rapidly rising," he said.

U.S. banks safe from Italy's problems

Investors remain cautious as worries about Europe's sovereign debt problems continue to weigh on sentiment. The results of European bank stress tests are due out around midday

Economy: Several economic reports are due Friday.

The Labor Department reported that the consumer price index fell 0.2% in June. CPI is the nation's most common read of inflation, and economists had been looking for it to fall 0.1% versus the 0.2% rise reported in May.

The Empire State Manufacturing Index, a measure of manufacturing in New York State, improved to -3.76 in July, up from -7.79 in June.

Investors will also get June industrial production figures, and the July reading on the University of Michigan consumer sentiment index.

Companies: Citigroup (C, Fortune 500) reported second-quarter net income of $3.3 billion, or $1.09 per share on revenues of $20.6 billion, topping analyst estimates of 96 cents per share.

Rebekah Brooks, former News of the World editor and CEO of News International, has resigned in wake of News Corp (NWSA, Fortune 500). hacking scandal. Shares were off 2% in premarket trading. The stock has dropped nearly 8% this week.

Shares of Google (GOOG, Fortune 500) surged 12% in premarket trading, a day after the search giant reported a stellar quarter and said Google+ topped 10 million users in two weeks.

Investor Carl Icahn has offered to take Clorox (CLX, Fortune 500) private in a deal valued at $12.6 billion. Clorox shareholders would receive $76.50 per share, an 11.8% premium over Thursday's closing price of $68.43. Shares of Clorox were up almost 12% in premarket trading.

Toy maker Mattel (MAT, Fortune 500) topped analyst estimates, reporting net income of $80.5 million, or 23 cents per share, up from $51.6 million, or 14 cents per share over the same time period last year.

World markets: European stocks were mixed in morning trading. Britain's FTSE 100 was little changed, the DAX in Germany lost 0.3% and France's CAC 40 was off 0.4%.

Asian markets ended the session mixed. The Shanghai Composite increased 0.4%, the Hang Seng in Hong Kong was off 0.3% and Japan's Nikkei gained 0.4%.

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

Oil for August delivery rose 56 cents to $96.25 a barrel.

Gold futures for August delivery dropped $7.60 to $1581.70 an ounce.

Bonds: The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury was little changed with the yield at 2.95%.