Stock Futures Mixed After Trade Data; Apple Rises

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Stock futures were trading mixed Friday as investors showed little reaction to the latest U.S. trade data. Apple(AAPL) shares gained ground.

Weather alerts also were in focus, as the National Weather Service warned that the Northeast and New England is expected to be impacted by a major winter storm Friday and into Saturday. As much as one to two feet of snow is forecast for the New York City metro area to Maine.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average were falling 11 points, or 6.05 points below fair value, at 13,887. Futures for the S&P 500 were down 0.25 points, or 0.54 points below fair value, at 1505. Futures for the Nasdaq were up 5.25 points, or 4.05 points above fair value, at 2747.

Apple(AAPL) shares gained 0.61% to $471.07 on Friday, just a day after David Einhorn asked shareholders to vote against the company's proposal to do away with preferred stock.

Major U.S. equity indices closed lower Thursday after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi warned of risks to the eurozone economy, and U.S. economic data came in weaker than expected.

A note from optionsXpress said that a break above the resistance level of 1509 in the SPX could "pressure the new shorts" and potentially catalyze the market to the best levels of the week.

Right now though "nibbling on dips is all that would be appropriate if you might be looking to participate on the long side and when there are whippy extremes in either direction, might be worth potentially looking at out-of-the-money credit strategies at those levels, since volatility could be rising," the optionsXpress note said.

The Census Bureau said Friday that the U.S. trade deficit shrank to $38.5 billion in December from $48.7 billion in November. Economists were expecting the deficit to shrink to $46 billion.

The Census Bureau at 10 a.m. is expected to report that wholesale inventories rose 0.4% in December after increasing 0.6% in November.

Asian markets closed mostly higher Friday following strong trade data from China. The Nikkei in Japan was an exception, however, finishing down 1.8% while Hong Kong's Hang Seng closed up 0.16%.