By Sara Sjolin, MarketWatch , Ryan Vlastelica

Amazon slumps more than 5% premarket

U.S. stock futures pointed to a modestly higher open on Friday as the latest read on economic growth pointed to an economy that continued to improve, albeit slowly, while also underlining the belief that the Federal Reserve would raise interest rates in December.

Futures had swung between positive and negative territory throughout the session, with some mixed corporate results weighing on major stock-index futures.

A preliminary read of third-quarter gross domestic product showed the fastest pace of expansion since mid-2014 (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/gdp-hits-29-in-biggest-gain-since-mid-2014-2016-10-28), with the economy growing 2.9%, in line with expectations. The report showed acceleration from the growth rate of 1.4% seen in the previous quarter.

The data was seen as doing little to change the view that the Federal Reserve would raise interest rates at its December meeting. The U.S. central bank has said it would raise rates when it deems the economy strong enough to withstand such a move.

"This shows that the US is roughly on track. It's a natural bounce back following a pretty underwhelming year so far," said Luke Bartholomew, an investment manager at Aberdeen Asset Management. "There's nothing here that will put the Fed off hiking in December."

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 38 points, or 0.2%, to 18,120, while those for the S&P 500 index added 4.60 points, or 0.2%, to 2,128. Futures for the Nasdaq-100 index climbed 12.5 points, or 0.3%, to 4,819.

At current levels, the Dow is expected to rise slightly for the week, while both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq are set for a weekly loss.

The day's advance was limited by Amazon.com Inc.(AMZN), which slumped 4.5% in premarket trading after posting disappointing earnings late Thursday (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/amazon-posts-smaller-than-expected-profit-increase-2016-10-27-164855144). On the upside, Google-parent Alphabet Inc.(GOOGL) rose 1.5% before the bell following stronger-than-expected earnings out on Thursday (http://blogs.marketwatch.com/thetell/2016/10/27/alphabet-expected-to-report-stronger-earnings-and-sales-live-blog/).

Read:This market barometer says Trump still has a chance at the White House (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/this-market-barometer-says-trump-still-has-a-chance-at-the-white-house-2016-10-28)

The Fed is meeting next week, but expectations for a rate increase are low ahead of the Nov. 8 election. Instead, markets are pricing in a tightening at the December meeting, with the CME Group data showing an 83% probability of a hike in December.

The ICE dollar index traded flat at 98.88 following the GDP release.

See:

Movers and shakers: Shares of Baker Hughes Inc.(BHI) rallied 8% before the bell after The Wall Street Journal reported that General Electric Co.(GE) is in talks to merge its oil-and-gas business with the oil-services company (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/general-electric-said-to-explore-baker-hughes-purchase-2016-10-27).

Hershey Co.(HSY) gained 2% in premarket trading after the chocolate company reported third-quarter earnings that beat estimates (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/hershey-third-quarter-earnings-beat-estimates-2016-10-28).

Amgen Inc.(AMGN) dropped 2.2% premarket after the biotechnology company late Thursday beat third-quarter earnings expectations and raised its profit outlook, but kept its sales outlook virtually unchanged (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/amgen-beats-profit-expectations-and-raises-its-outlook-2016-10-27).

U.S.-listed shares of Sanofi SA(SAN.FR) (SAN.FR) jumped 8.2% after the French drug giant lifted its profit outlook (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/sanofi-raises-profit-outlook-after-upbeat-results-2016-10-28).

Movers: Both Chevron Corp (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/chevron-returns-to-profit-though-revenue-slides-2016-10-28). (CVX) and Exxon Mobil Corp (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/exxon-mobil-profit-and-revenue-slide-again-2016-10-28-84853357).(XOM) reported sharp drops in their quarterly earnings, hurt by weak oil prices.

Other markets: Asia markets closed mostly lower (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/most-asian-markets-down-but-nikkei-trades-up-2016-10-27), but with Japan's Nikkei 225 bucking the trend. The Japanese index ended 0.6% higher as the yen weakened after data showed consumer prices dropped in September.

Markets in Europe traded firmly lower (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/european-stocks-drop-as-anheuser-busch-cuts-view-french-data-disappoint-2016-10-28) and heading toward weekly losses.

Oil prices slumped (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/oil-prices-hold-steady-ahead-of-weekend-opec-meeting-2016-10-28) 0.9%, while metals where mixed (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/gold-futures-drift-lower-ahead-of-us-gdp-reading-2016-10-28).

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 28, 2016 09:20 ET (13:20 GMT)