The latest round of trade talks between high-level US and Chinese delegations has wrapped up in Beijing. It wasn't immediately clear how much progress was made during this week's discussions, but US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin described them as "productive."
Negotiators from the two countries have been trying to strike a deal before March 2, when the US government is due to raise tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods. President Donald Trump has indicated he might be willing to let that deadline slide if a deal is close.
Investors are also worried about data released Thursday that showed a surprise drop in US retail sales for December.
2. Soda wars: PepsiCo (PEP) will report earnings before the opening bell.
The food and beverage maker has been expanding its portfolio of healthy foods and drinks as consumers turn to more low-calorie, sugar-free options.
It's a tough market. Pepsi rival Coca-Cola (KO) had its worst day since October 2008 on Thursday, plunging 8%. The company said in an earnings report that sales declined 10% in 2018 and it issued disappointing guidance for 2019, citing the global economic slowdown, a strong US dollar and political uncertainty.
3. Brexit warnings: Royal Bank of Scotland has cautioned that a messy Brexit could put daily payments worth more than €50 billion ($56 billion) at risk.
The bank has applied for licenses needed to continue processing cross-border payments. But it has warned of a "material impact on the group and its customers" if it fails to secure the licenses and Britain crashes out of the European Union without a deal.
The bank also said the uncertainty over Brexit is hurting businesses.
"We are seeing large corporate customers delay investment decisions until they have more detail on the outcome of the Brexit process," it said in a statement.
Shares in RBS (RBSPF) were slightly higher after the bank reported its results.
4. Global market overview: Stocks in Asia moved lower on Friday. Hong Kong's Hang Seng shed 1.9%, while South Korea's Kospi and China's Shanghai Composite dropped around 1.4%. European markets opened mixed, but quickly turned negative.
The Dow Jones industrial average closed down 0.4% on Thursday. The S&P 500 declined 0.3% and the Nasdaq gained 0.1%.
5. Earnings and economics Moody's (MCO) and Newell Brands (NWL) will release earnings before the open.
Weak inflation data published Friday in China has provided more evidence of a slowdown in the world's second largest economy.
"We expect policymakers to roll out further measures to ease financial pressure on industrial firms, including cuts to benchmark lending rates," said Julian Evans-Pritchard, senior China economist at Capital Economics.
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