By Peter Nurse    

-- U.S. stocks are seen opening lower Friday, with sentiment hit by continued concerns over the health of the global banking system ahead of the release of manufacturing and services activity data. 

At 07:00 ET (11:00 GMT), the contract was down 280 points, or 0.9%, traded 30 points, or 0.8%, lower and dropped 47 points, or 0.4%.

The main averages closed with small gains Thursday, but lost steam in the afternoon, with the blue chip erasing an earlier 400-point rally to close just 75 points higher.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen tried to boost confidence on Thursday, reiterating that she was prepared to take further action to ensure that Americans' bank deposits stay safe.

However, strains are apparent as borrowing at the Federal Reserve’s discount window was a hefty $110.2 billion as of Wednesday. Additionally, lending from the Fed's new Bank Term Funding Program ballooned to $53.7B, while loans to foreign central banks surged to $60B.

And in Europe, (ETR:) stock shed more than 10%, leading a wider decrease in the region’s banking stocks, after a record surge in the cost of insuring against the risk of a default late in the previous day. 

This banking turbulence has lifted expectations that the will pause its interest rate-hiking cycle next month. That said, the U.S. central bank has other things to consider, including the still-tight labor market and next week’s highly significant release.

Before that investors will get the March PMI readings on and , at 09:45 ET (13:45 GMT).

The equivalent data earlier in the session showed that the picked up further in March as a strong service sector compensated for ongoing weakness in manufacturing.

In corporate news, the banking sector will remain in the spotlight, while payments firm Block (NYSE:) slumped premarket after Hindenburg Research disclosed short positions in the payments firm, alleging in a report that the company overstated its user numbers and understated its customer acquisition costs.

Block called the report "factually inaccurate and misleading".

Oil prices fell Friday, ending a largely positive week on the retreat after U.S. officials expressed caution over the length of time it would take to refill the country’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which has fallen to a near 50-year low.

U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said on Thursday that it will be “difficult” to refill government oil reserves this year, undermining previous indications that the Biden administration will begin restocking if prices traded around $67 to $72 a barrel.

By 07:00 ET, futures traded 3.3% lower at $67.65 a barrel, while the contract fell 3.1% to $73.56. 

Both crude benchmarks are still on track for a small weekly gain, recovering from their biggest weekly declines in months last week as the banking sector exacerbated worries about a possible recession.

Additionally, rose 0.1% to $1,996.60/oz, while traded 0.9% lower to 1.0732.