Before the bell 2-23-07: Futures lower as oil's higher

Stock futures were lower in early morning, indicating a similar start for stock in a relatively quiet Friday morning.

After a strong day yesterday due to sharp drop in U.S. inventories, oil prices continue their climb today, following further tensions with Iran as OPEC's No. 2 supplier once again defied the Security Council over its nuclear program. After closing near $61 a barrel yesterday, oil prices broke through that mark today.

In corporate news -

Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT) yesterday was ordered by a U.S. federal jury to pay $1.52 billion in damages to Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE:ALU) over a patent infringement. While appeals are on their way, some think Alcatel-Lucent might go after Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Sony Corp. (NASDAQ:SNE) and other MP3 makers.
-MSFT shares were down 0.75% in pre-market trading around 6:30 a.m.
-ALU shares are up 0.84% in pre-market as of 7:00 a.m. ALU shares rose as much as 3.5% in Paris.

Lowe's Cos., Inc. (NYSE:LOW) reported a fourth-quarter profit decline of 11.5% due to a slowing home improvement market amid a continued slump in the housing sector. Lowe's net income was $613 million in Q4, or 40 cents a share on falling revenue of $10.4 billion (compared to $10.8 billion a year earlier). Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial had been looking for net income of 37 cents a share on revenue of $10.36 billion.

H&R Block Inc. (NYSE:HRB) shares rose 4.3% in after-hours trading yesterday after the company reported a third-quarter loss. Net loss was $44.7 million, or 14 cents per share on rising revenues (11%) of $860.3 million. Excluding special items, income from continuing operations was $25 million, or 8 cents per share. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial had expected earnings of 13 cents per share on revenues of $1.13 billion.

In what would undoubtedly make Altria Group Inc. (NYSE:MO) and Reynolds American Inc. (NYSE:RAI) shareholders happy, the suits over the light cigarettes filed against the two have been thrown out by a federal appeals court.

Some news from overseas:

The Tokyo Stock Exchange and the London Stock Exchange announced they would work together to share technology information and possibly develop new products.

After growing in the fastest pace in six years, German economy could be slowing as February German business confidence fell more than economists forecast.