By Steve Goldstein, MarketWatch LONDON (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stock futures edged higher on Friday, helped by a stronger-than-forecast profit at Walt Disney as a slew of economic indicators await. S&P 500 futures rose 2.8 points to 1,090.10 and Nasdaq 100 futures rose 4.25 points to 1,778.00. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 20 points. U.S. stocks ended lower on Thursday, dragged lower by energy-related companies after a build in crude inventories, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropping 94 points, its first loss in seven sessions. The S&P 500 fell 11 points and the Nasdaq Composite lost 18 points. Data on November consumer sentiment, October import prices and the trade gap in September are due. Economists polled by MarketWatch expect the trade gap to widen to $32 billion from $30.7 billion, import prices to shoot up 0.8% and consumer sentiment to grow to 71.8 from 70.6. The trade gap and import price data are due at 8:30 a.m. Eastern, and the confidence data is due at 10 a.m. "The trade number will likely help drive the dollar, which will again have an impact on risk assets as we approach the weekend," said Jim Reid, a Deutsche Bank strategist. "Stand by for [Federal Reserve Chairman Ben] Bernanke on Monday," he added, referring to a speech the leader of the U.S. central bank is due to deliver. Ahead of Bernanke, New York Fed President William Dudley and Chicago Fed President Charles Evans give speeches. The dollar index was slightly weaker, down 0.1% to 75.39, though that's above the 15-month lows of 74.77 reached earlier in the week. A slew of economic releases from Europe showed that the euro-zone economy finally escaped recession in the third quarter but advanced at weaker pace than economists anticipated. Led by Germany, the euro-zone rose at a 0.4% quarterly clip in the third quarter. See full story. Copper futures advanced 0.5%, leading a mild rise in the metals complex. Bank of America Merrill Lynch lifted its copper price estimate citing the possibility of a strengthening of world demand outside of China. Oil futures rose 39 cents to $77.33 a barrel. Walt Disney (DIS 29.05, -0.24, -0.82%) rose 1.4% in Frankfurt as the media giant reported a stronger-than-forecast 18% profit rise behind strength at ESPN and ABC-produced television programs. John Malone's Liberty Global (LBTY.A 23.10, -0.44, -1.87%) will buy Germany's second-largest cable operator, Unitymedia, from private-equity groups BC Partners and Apollo in a deal valued at $5.2 billion. Major Asian benchmarks were mixed, with the Nikkei 225 falling 0.3% but the Hang Seng rose 0.5%. European indexes also were mixed, with the pan-European Dow Jones Stoxx 600 rising 0.2%.

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