STOCK MARKET NEWS: GM dividend update, Bed Bath & Beyond craters, futures slide

U.S. equity futures were giving back gains from the previous session as investors analyzed conflicting economic signals ahead of a Federal Reserve conference next week.

The major futures indexes suggest a decline of 0.5% when the opening bell rings.

Oil prices edged lower on Friday, putting the brakes on a rally in the last couple of days.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was around $89.00 a barrel, following a 2.7% increase in the previous session. Brent crude futures traded around $95.00 a barrel. after settling 3.1% higher on Thursday.

Still, the benchmark contracts were headed for weekly losses of about 1.5%.

Shares of Bed, Bath & Beyond are plunging another 39% in premarket trading after Investor Ryan Cohen sold his shares for average prices between $18.68 to $29.22 per share, a regulatory filing said. The GameStop chair sold the stock Tuesday and Wednesday. The premarket drop follows a nearly 20% fall in the regular trading session.

A banner week for retail earnings
wraps up Friday morning with a pair of specialty names: footwear favorite Foot Locker, and apparel retailer The Buckle. Also watch for results from agricultural machinery maker Deere, and live entertainment producer Madison Square Garden Entertainment. 

Cryptocurrencies fell sharply on Friday dragging bitcoin to a three-week low. The reason for the drop was not immediately known.

Bitcoin fell as much as 7.7% to $21,404 over a few minutes overnight. Bitcoin rebounded a bit to nearly $22,000. but was down more than 2% in the past week.

In Asia, the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo shed less than 0.1%, the Hang Seng in Hong Kong added 0.1% and China’s Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.6%.

Wall Street rebounded after corporate results and fewer unemployment claims
than expected suggested the U.S. economy has pockets of resiliency despite repeated interest rate hikes.

The S&P 500 rose 0.2% to 4,283.74, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.1% to 33,999.04, the Nasdaq added 0.2% to 12,965.34.