Stocks poised to continue upward climb

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — U.S. stock futures continued their upward streak Friday, as investors await the final reading of fourth-quarter GDP and shrug off geopolitical concerns.

Dow Jones industrial average (INDU), S&P 500 (SPX) and Nasdaq (COMP) futures were all up about 0.4% ahead of the opening bell. Futures measure current index values against perceived future performance.

Though unrest in the Middle East and Libya is spreading and Japan continues to deal with the effects of an earthquake, the market generally has trended higher this week.

“This is a Teflon market,” said Mark Luschini, chief investment strategist at Janney Montgomery Scott. “It wants to go up, and it doesn’t seem to be stymied by much lately.”

But two economic reports on tap for early Friday “could serve as a litmus test” for the domestic situation, Luschini said.

The final reading of fourth-quarter U.S. GDP comes out at 8:30 a.m. ET. Economists are looking for GDP to be revised slightly to 2.9% from 2.8%, according to Briefing.com.

Also on tap for Friday morning is the University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment survey for March. Economists expect a reading of 68.0 — down slightly from 68.2 in February.

Mostly positive earnings news from the technology sector boosted U.S. stocks on Thursday, with all major indexes posting solid gains.

Companies: Shares of Oracle (ORCL, Fortune 500) were up 4.7% in premarket, after the software company reported results late Thursday that were mostly in line with expectations. Oracle earnings grew by 78%, and sales rose 37% in the previous quarter. The company also raised its quarterly dividend to 6 cents a share.

Research in Motion (RIMM) shares plunged 12.1% in premarket trade, after the BlackBerry maker gave a weak first-quarter guidance late Thursday. RIMM’s earnings were $1.78 per share, versus the $1.75 a share analysts had expected. Revenue rose 36% compared to last year, but still fell short of expectations.

Homebuilder KBHome (KBH) is scheduled to report its quarterly earnings results before the start of trade.

World markets: European stocks were higher in morning trading. Britain’s FTSE 100, the DAX in Germany and France’s CAC 40 added 0.3%.

Asian markets ended the session higher. The Shanghai Composite, the Hang Seng in Hong Kong and Japan’s Nikkei all gained about 1.1%.

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

Oil for May delivery gained 17 cents, or 0.2%, to $105.77 a barrel.

Gold futures for April delivery added 80 cents, or less than 0.1%, to $1,435.70 an ounce.

Bonds: The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury fell, pushing the yield up to 3.40% from 3.39% late Thursday.  

First Published: March 25, 2011: 6:48 AM ET