U.S. stock futures are mixed this morning, as investors are awaiting economic data on retail sales and manufacturing activity in the New York area. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 3 points to 12,227.00 and S&P 500 futures fell 0.30 point to 1,327.40. Nasdaq 100 futures gained 1 point to 2,382.75.

European markets were mixed today. While STOXX Europe 600 Index has gained 0.12%, London's FTSE 100 Index moved down 0.06%.

Asian markets ended mixed, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average gaining 0.20% and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 moving down 0.08%.

U.S. stock futures are mostly higher this morning as investors await earnings reports from several companies. However, shares of Apple Inc (AAPL) dropped in pre-market trading. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 37 points to 11,762.00 and S&P 500 futures gained 2.20 points to 1,292.20. Futures on the Nasdaq 100, however, dropped 12.50 points to 2,307.50.

U.S. markets were closed on Monday for the Martin Luther King Day holiday. Stocks closed higher on Friday, with the Dow gaining 55.48 points, or 0.47%.

This morning there was an odd event. Time Warner, Inc. (NYSE:TWX) is usually a thin volume stock when it comes to pre-market or after-hours trading. This morning that looked different as there were over 5.3 million shares that traded hands early before the market opened.

What is even stranger is that there HAD been a reading of over 7 million shares that had traded hands in pre-market trading, but then the share count fell back. That is either a busted trade or a trade error where one party actually allowed a transaction to be canceled.

The overall market weakness and the weak dollar could account for some of this, but the move was representative of an institutional block. What is odd is that the day after Thanksgiving usually sees very little block volume. This actually threw up a trader-alert flag for traders that look for weak or strong stocks early in the day so they can either pile into or pile on selling to capitalize when there are weaker hands controlling each stock's daily trading destiny.

Strange things do happen on the day after Thanksgiving. The A-Team traders are usually out skiing, recovering from tryptophan induced turkey comas, or are out shopping. The stock was down 0.77% pre-market, then down 1.06% right after the open, and then down 1.3% at $20.49 at 11:24 AM EST.

While this throws up a flag for Friday, it will also throw up another alert flag on Monday (for a counter-trend trade). There could be some bottom-fishing after this gets sorted out, and if not you, you may see some on Monday as there haven't been any catastrophic headlines out on TWX.

General Electric was trading down in pre-market action this morning while the rest of the market was trading up. Of course, that could shift by the time the opening bell rings at 9:30 a.m. ET.

My guess is that higher oil prices are weighing on the stock.

However, there were allegations of sex scandal in a GE division reported last night. NBC talk show host Maury Povich and some of the show's producers are being sued for $100 million for sexual harassment. Spokespeople for the show and for NBC Universal denied the rather sordid allegations.

I doubt that's affecting GE's stock price, but it is more bad news for beleaguered NBC.