Futures slightly lower on earnings from industrial giants

New York - 21 July 2017: U.S. stock index futures were slightly lower on Friday, but continued to hover around record levels, as investors took cues from earnings reports of industrial heavyweights General Electric and Honeywell.

* Shares of GE (GE.N) were up 0.60 percent in premarket trading after the company results beat estimates on strength in its renewables and power businesses.

* Honeywell International (HON.N) was up 0.91 percent after the technology and manufacturing company reported a rise in its second-quarter profit.

* Microsoft (MSFT.O) rose 0.31 percent and was on track to open at an all-time high after reporting strong fourth-quarter earnings.

* Attention will turn to earnings from big tech names next week, including Amazon (AMZN.O), Alphabet (GOOGL.O) and Facebook (FB.O).

* The Nasdaq notched its 10th straight record close on Thursday, marking its best streak since February 2015.

* The tech sector has been the best performing S&P sector this year, despite concerns over stretched valuation, as investors look for growth in an otherwise low-growth environment and sectors that are relatively immune from a policy gridlock in Washington.

* Stocks ended little changed on Wall Street on Thursday as a deal between Sears (SHLD.O) and Amazon weighed on home improvement retailers, along with weak earnings.

* Still, overall earnings are expected to be good with analysts expecting earnings to have climbed 8.6 percent, above the 8-percent rise projected at the start of the month, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. About 15 percent of S&P 500 companies have posted results so far.

* Visa (V.N) rose 1.8 percent after the world's largest payments network operator reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit and raised its annual earnings forecast.

* EBay (EBAY.O) fell 4.2 percent as the company warned that adjusted profit this quarter could fall below analysts' estimates.

* The market will also keep an eye on the Federal Reserve meeting next week for their take on the health of the economy. While no rate hike is expected, the central bank's take on slowing inflation will be keenly awaited.