Stock futures were mixed early Friday morning with the Nasdaq futures higher, given a boost by a new deal being discussed between Microsoft and Yahoo! Blue chip stock futures were lower after a new forecast the economy will weaken further and unemployment will rise.

U.S. stocks ended Friday little changed after consumer confidence data disappointed Wall Street again and high oil prices dampened the mood. For the week, though all the major indexes posted gains. The Dow industrials rose 1.9% for the week despite being down 0.05% Friday, the S&P 500 rose 2.7% for the week, helped by a 0.13% rise Friday, and the Nasdaq Composite climbed 3.4%, including a 0.19% decline Friday.

At 10:00 a.m. EDT, April leading indicators, a lagging broad, general, indicator of economic activity, is expected to show minimal increase.
However, a survey was released Monday by the National Association for Business Economics giving their collective outlook on the U.S. economy. While, according to the survey economists believe the worst of the housing slump and the credit crunch might come to an end this year, a majority of economists now believe the economy is in a recession or on the brink of a recession and therefore they forecast further weakening of the economy and unemployment to continue to rise.

Once again this morning investors' attention will turn to Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) and Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) as the former is once again trying to team up with the latter to challenge Internet search and advertising leader Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG). While the companies haven't disclosed any specifics, it appears that at this point the renewed talks do not include another attempt to take over Yahoo. YHOO shares are up marginally in premarket trading.

Still in deal news, the Wall Street Journal reported that after failing to get the support of a majority of the company's shareholders for a deal and after the previous deadline has expired Friday, Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: ERTS) is likely to again extend the deadline for its hostile tender offer to acquire Take-Two Interactive Software (NASDAQ: TTWO).

Lowe's Companies Inc. (NYSE: LOW) shares are down over 3% in premarket trading after the home improvement retailer said its profit fell 17.9% and sales fell 8.4% as it faces a challenging sales environment amid a national housing slump. Lowe's 41 cents earnings per share is actually about the 40 cents estimated by analysts.