By Sara Sjolin, MarketWatch

Reynolds soars after British American Tobacco takeover offer

U.S. stock futures pointed to a lower open Friday, setting the main benchmarks on track for another down day as investors zoomed in on key earnings reports, two Federal Reserve speakers and the latest oil-rig count.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 60 points, or 0.3%, to 18,048, while those for the S&P 500 gave up 7.10 points, or 0.3%, to 2,130. Nasdaq-100 futures fell 6.75 points, or 0.1%, to 4,837.

The weakness comes after U.S. stocks closed lower on Thursday (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-stock-futures-in-holding-pattern-after-debate-and-ahead-of-big-data-dump-2016-10-20), partly driven by a 2.3% slide for oil futures . Crude recovered a little on Friday (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/strong-dollar-remarks-by-rosneft-chief-weigh-on-oil-2016-10-21), up 0.4% at $50.84 a barrel ahead of the weekly Baker Hughes (BHI) rig-count data.

"The past week has been all about picking winners and losers as investors mulled over a myriad of data points that seem to tell different stories. From Brexit to global growth, it's been a case of glass half full or half empty," said Dave Jeal, head of investment products at Interactive Investor, in a note.

Read:The stock market is caught deep in 'no man's land' (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-stock-market-is-caught-deep-in-no-mans-land-2016-10-20)

As of Thursday's close, the S&P 500 was on track for a 0.4% weekly rise, while the Dow average was set for a 0.1% climb and the Nasdaq Composite a 0.5% advance.

Movers: The tech-heavy Nasdaq was likely to be buoyed by a jump in Microsoft Corp. shares (MSFT), which rose 5.1% premarket after a well-received earnings report late Thursday. The software giant's stock was trading above $60, representing an all-time high and topping its price during its heyday in 1999.

Shares of Reynolds American Inc.(RAI) were also making a splash premarket (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/reynolds-jumps-18-premarket-on-47-billion-bat-offer-2016-10-21), soaring 20% after British American Tobacco PLC(BATS.LN) (BATS.LN) offered to buy the remaining stake in its U.S. peer it doesn't already own for $47 billion (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/bat-in-47-billion-offer-for-reynolds-stake-2016-10-21). Reynolds confirmed it has received the offer.

PayPal Holdings Inc.(PYPL) added 4.8% before the open after its earnings late Thursday met expectations.

On a downbeat note, Advanced Micro Devices Inc.(AMD) slumped 7.3% after the chip maker saw its loss widen in the third quarter (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/advanced-micro-devices-slides-after-posting-wider-quarterly-loss-2016-10-20).

On the earnings docket Friday, General Electric Co.(GE) posted worse-than-expected revenue growth (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/ge-revenue-misses-expectations-while-profit-beats-2016-10-21), sending shares down 0.9% ahead of the bell. Honeywell International Inc.(HON) sales also fell short of forecasts (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/honeywell-sales-fall-short-of-estimates-2016-10-21), but its shares climbed 1.7%.

McDonald's Corp.(MCD) is also due to report before the bell.

Qualcomm Inc.(QCOM) could also make a move in the wake of a Bloomberg report that its bid to takeover NXP Semiconductors NV (NXPI) is nearing its final stages (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-10-20/qualcomm-said-to-be-near-final-nxp-deal-may-announce-next-week).

Fed speakers: Fed Gov. Daniel Tarullo is due to give a speech at a Columbia Law School Conference in New York at 10:15 a.m. Eastern Time, followed by San Francisco Fed President John Williams's keynote speech at the Federal Home Loan Bank's 2016 Member Conference at 2:30 p.m.

The dollar has been climbing steadily this month on rising expectation the Fed will lift interest rates at its December meeting. The ICE dollar index was up 0.3% at 98.56 early Friday, set for a 0.5% weekly gain.

Other markets: Asia markets closed mostly lower (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/asian-markets-lower-as-odds-of-fed-rate-hike-increase-2016-10-20) on the higher expectations of Fed tightening. Trading was suspended in Hong Kong (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/stock-market-shuts-as-hong-kong-braces-for-typhoon-2016-10-20), however, as Typhoon Haima approached.

Stocks in Europe wobbled (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/european-stocks-edge-up-with-weekly-win-in-sight-2016-10-21) as investors digested the European Central Bank's message from Thursday's meeting (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/will-mario-draghi-leave-investors-high-and-dry-in-december-2016-10-20).

Metals were mainly lower (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/gold-futures-drop-but-cling-to-weekly-gain-as-dollar-recovers-2016-10-21), pressured by the stronger dollar.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 21, 2016 07:41 ET (11:41 GMT)