It looks like the trading week might end with a whimper.
U.S. stock futures were edging slightly lower Friday. If that trend continues through the session, the major indexes will close with a loss for the week.
Stock market trading is typically muted in August.
"August historically has a slight bearish bias to it, and volume is very low," said Ryan Detrick, an analyst at Schaeffer's Investment Research. "So far that is exactly what we've seen."
U.S. stocks ended slightly higher Thursday, though that followed a three-day losing streak.
Despite this week's softer tone, stocks are still up by roughly 18% to 23% this year.
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Priceline.com (PCLN) shares rose in premarket trading after the company posted quarterly earnings that beat expectations.
J.C. Penney (JCP) shares fell before the bell, losing ground after gaining 7% Thursday, on reports that the struggling retailer began its search for a new CEO to replace its interim head executive, Mike Ullman.
Shares of Blackberry (BBRY) surged 10% before the markets opened, after Reuters reported that the Canadian smartphone company is looking for a buyer to take it private.
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European markets were looking weary heading into the weekend, moving mostly lower in morning trading.
Asian markets, which tend to be relatively volatile, also had a rather uneventful Friday.
Tokyo's Nikkei added 0.1%, the Shanghai Composite index edged up by 0.4% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index rose by 0.7%.
This comes as new data showed inflation remained subdued in China last month.
