5 Things You Should Know Before the Stock Market Opens

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- U.S. stock futures were signaling a mixed open for Wall Street Friday ahead of first-quarter GDP figures and earnings from Ford(F) , Chevron(CVX) , Merck(MRK) and Procter & Gamble(PG) .

European shares were slightly higher despite a downgrade of Spain's credit rating from Standard & Poor's.

In Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 index finished down 0.4% to close at 9,520.89. The index got a brief lift after the Bank of Japan said it would expand its asset-buying program.

The economic calendar in the U.S. Friday includes the advance estimate of first-quarter gross domestic product at 8:30 a.m. EDT. Economists are calling for growth of 2.5%.

There's also the final University of Michigan read on consumer sentiment, which is seen remaining steady at 75.7. The data is due at 9:55 a.m.

Automaker Ford(F) is expected by analysts before the bell Friday to report first-quarter earnings of 35 cents a share on revenue of $31.5 billion.

Amazon.com(AMZN) , the online retailer, topped analysts' earnings estimates and said profit margins held steady.

Amazon's margins in the first quarter were 1.45%, in line with the fourth quarter's 1.5%.

Amazon posted earnings of 28 cents a share as revenue rose 34% to $13.2 billion, thanks in part to strong Kindle Fire sales.

Analysts expected Amazon to report earnings of 7 cents a share on revenue of $12.9 billion.

Amazon provided second-quarter revenue guidance, with the midpoint slightly below Wall Street estimates.

Samsung Electronics posted record profit in the first quarter, fueled by a surge in Galaxy smartphones.

Samsung sold more smartphones in the first three months of the year than Apple(AAPL) , The Associated Press reported, and raked in more than 70% of its operating profit from its mobile businesses.

Net profit nearly doubled from a year earlier to a record 5.05 trillion won ($4.46 billion).