Wall St set to open lower on GE, Google

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks were set for a slightly lower open on Friday after GE and Google results fell short of expectations and as investors looked for a resolution in the latest round of Greek debt talks.

Google Inc shares slumped 7.7 percent to $590.16 in premarket trading after quarterly profit and revenue for the No. 1 Internet search engine missed Wall Street expectations on declining search advertising rates.

General Electric Co lost 2.4 percent to $18.68 after the largest U.S. conglomerate reported roughly flat profit from continuing operations, but revenues missed estimates.

"At this point, we are still at the starting line on earnings season. The good news is that the market has not reacted to the slow start," said Fred Dickson, chief market strategist at D.A. Davidson & Co in Lake Oswego, Oregon.

Greece and its private bondholders were "converging toward" a long-awaited debt swap deal, sources said, with an initial agreement possibly coming late Friday.

Hopes are that an agreement would prevent the nation from spiraling into bankruptcy and bring some stability to the debt-strained euro zone.

"Economic news has been a little better than expected and we've had a lack of bad news from Europe so investor interest has been buoyed by a little more optimism in terms of investor acceleration, but today just looks like a consolidation day," said Dickson.

Improving economic data in the United States along with signs of euro zone stability has helped push the S&P 500 up 4.5 percent to start the year.

A strong outlook from International Business Machines Corp and decent results from Intel Corp and Microsoft Corp signaled that corporate leaders were shaking off nervousness about economic growth and boosting technology spending.

Microsoft shares were up 2.4 percent to $28.78, and Intel edged up 1 percent to $25.88 premarket. IBM gained 2.7 percent to $185.34.

S&P 500 futures fell 2.7 points and were below fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures were off 17 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures dipped 1 point.

Parker Hannifin Corp dipped 4.7 percent to $81 after the industrial parts maker reported a lower-than-expected quarterly profit and cut its full-year forecast.

Economic data on existing home sales was due from the National Association of Realtors for December at 10 a.m. (1500 GMT). Economists forecast a 4.65 million annual rate in December, versus 4.42 million in November.

Chinese factory activity likely fell for a third successive month in January, an early indicator showed, suggesting Beijing's pro-growth policies will remain in place despite early signs a downward drift was slowing.

(Reporting By Chuck Mikolajczak; editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)

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