Tepid open seen for stocks

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- U.S. stocks were set for a lackluster start Friday, as investors prepared to take a breather from a two-day run-up.

Dow Jones industrial average (INDU), S&P 500 (SPX) and Nasdaq (COMP) futures were slightly lower ahead of the opening bell.

Futures measure current index values against perceived future performance.

Newfound market optimism has helped Wall Street rally over the past two sessions. Worries about a faltering global economic recovery have eased and investors have turned their attention to buying oversold shares.

Thursday's advance pushed the Dow higher 120 points, or 1.2%. The broader S&P 500 climbed 0.9% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 0.7%.

After two straight down weeks, the major indexes are poised to finish the holiday-shortened week higher. So far this week, the Dow is up 452 points, or 4.7%. The Nasdaq has rallied 4% while the S&P 500 has advanced 4.7%.

But with little in the way of economic news on tap, stocks may struggle to push higher.

"The market has a wait-and-see attitude," said Bob Tull, chief operating officer of Old Mutual Global Index Trackers. "People are making their own opinions of whether it's going to be a different world from one day to the next, and are sitting on the sidelines until we continue to see smaller positive gains and a nice gradual progression with less volatility."

Economy: The only report on tap is a reading on wholesale inventories which comes out at 10 a.m. ET.

Economists surveyed by Briefing.com expect inventories to have risen 0.4% in May after increasing the same amount in April.

Companies: Google (GOOG, Fortune 500) said China has renewed its license to offer services in the country, according to the company's official blog.

The fate of the search giant's business in China has been in doubt amid a fight with Chinese regulators over censorship. Shares of Google rose nearly 4% before the market open.

Madison Square Garden (MSG) dropped more than 4% in pre-market trading after basketball star LeBron James announced late Thursday that he will sign with the Miami Heat instead of the company-owned New York Knicks.

World markets: European shares got off to a positive start. The FTSE 100 in Britain, Germany's DAX and France's CAC 40 were all up about 0.2% in the early going.

In Asia, the Shanghai Composite surged 2.3%. Major indexes in Hong Kong and Japan also finished the session with solid gains.

Dollar and commodities: The dollar was up against the euro, the Japanese yen and the British pound.

U.S. light crude oil for August delivery fell 15 cents to $75.29 a barrel.

COMEX gold's August contract climbed $12.80 to $1,208.90 per ounce.

Bonds: Treasury prices fell, pushing the yield on the 10-year note up to 3.05% from 3.02% late Thursday. Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions.