MICHIGAN

Wall St stock index futures pointed to a lower start on Friday as investors stayed cautious ahead of U.S. GDP data, with S&P 500, Dow Jones and Nasdaq futures down 0.3 to 0.4 percent at 5:11 a.m. ET.

Job worries drove July U.S. consumer confidence to its lowest since February, with one in six people expecting lower income in the next six months, underscoring the precarious state of economic recovery.

A Pontiac, Michigan, woman was charged with murder on Friday after chasing down and ramming another car in a fight over a man that started on Facebook, police said.

General Electric Co moved to raise its dividend by 20 percent on Friday, in a sign that the largest U.S. conglomerate has put the worst of the financial crisis behind it.

Ford Motor Co posted a stronger-than-expected quarterly profit of $2.6 billion and said it was on track for higher earnings and lower debt in 2011, sending its shares up 4 percent.

China's Chery Automobile Co said on Friday it was unaware of a U.S. case of alleged theft of GM technology that had been linked to the Chinese firm.

A U.S. grand jury has ordered Toyota Motor Corp to turn over documents related to problems with rods that connect vehicle steering systems to their front wheels

Toyota Motor Corp said on Tuesday it has been subpoenaed by a federal grand jury in New York to turn in documents related to a problem with a component in the steering mechanism in some of its vehicles.

Can white elephants come in green? President Barack Obama flew to Holland, Mich., on Thursday to attend groundbreaking ceremonies for a new lithium-ion battery plant, which the White House advertised as an example of federal stimulus grants at work and a gateway to a clean-energy future.

An unexpectedly sharp drop in a key consumer confidence index sent stocks plummeting on Friday and drove down prices for crude oil futures so that the benchmark contract finished the week virtually unchanged from last Friday.

The Aussie dollar held onto support around 0.8750 in early offshore trade rallying back above the 88 cent handle on the back of gains in EUR/USD.

The Australian Dollar once again retreated during Friday evening's trade as concerns about the global economic recovery emerged and equity markets headed down in Europe and the US.

Weak energy costs pushed U.S. consumer prices down for a third straight month in June while consumer sentiment dropped to a near one-year low in July, highlighting the sluggishness of the economic recovery.

Dismal consumer sentiment data and anemic revenues from GE and two big banks slammed stocks on Friday, driving down major indexes more than 2 percent.

Stocks tumbled on Friday after consumer sentiment hit nearly a one-year low and GE and two major U.S. banks reported disappointing quarterly revenue.

Tesla Motors Inc and Toyota Motor Corp said on Friday that they will together build and market an electric RAV4 sports utility vehicle by 2012.

U.S. stock indexes fell as much as 2.4 percent on Friday after consumer sentiment fell to an 11-month low and consumer prices fell, while GE and two big U.S. banking companies missed quarterly revenue expectations.

Consumer sentiment weakened in early July to its lowest in 11 months on a resurgence in fears about the economy, a year since the recovery began, a private survey released on Friday showed.

President Barack Obama heard a sobering message from Warren Buffett when he asked for the investment guru's views about the economic recovery, according to an interview Obama gave NBC News on Thursday.

Most U.S. counties are having to cut back on spending on safety and infrastructure in the face of monstrous revenue shortfalls, the National Association of Counties said on Friday.

General Motors Co said on Wednesday it will sell its Nexteer Automotive unit to a China government-backed group, as GM focuses on its core car business while the Chinese look to bolster their global competitiveness.