Wall Street pointed slightly lower in early trading Friday but remains on track to close the week with solid gains with major corporations turning in largely healthy earnings reports. Futures for the S&P 500 ticked down 0.

Japan’s core inflation rate rose to a 16-month high at 3% in December, year on year, boosting the case for a rate hike from the Bank of Japan.

Asian shares are mixed after gains for oil-and-gas producers helped offset drops for Nvidia and other Big Tech companies on Wall Street.

SLB helped lead the market after the provider oilfield services delivered bigger profit and revenues for the end of 2024 than analysts expected. It jumped 6.1% after it also raised its dividend by 3.6% and said it’s returning $2.3 billion to its investors by buying back its own stock.

Asian shares traded mixed Tuesday, echoing Wall Street trading, where gains for oil-and-gas producers helped offset drops for Nvidia and other Big Tech companies. Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 slipped 1.

Helping to keep the stock market calm was a relatively steady bond market, which has been driving much of the action on Wall Street lately. When worries about inflation and the U.S. government’s swelling debt have been on the rise,