Stock index futures point to a sluggish start on Wall Street on expiration Friday. Forty-five minutes before the opening bell, futures indicate that the Dow Jones Industrial Average might lose 40 or 50 points at the open.

GE lost 4.4 percent after reporting a quarterly profit of 26 cents per share, which beat Street estimates by 2 cents, but revenues fell 16.6 percent and below analyst expectations.

Citi (C) and BofA (BAC) are out with earnings as well. BAC is down 2.7 percent after EPS numbers beat expectations, but total profits fell due to ongoing credit woes. Citi sits little changed after reporting better-than-expected profits, but revenues that fell short of expectations.

Meanwhile, Google (GOOG) is down 2 percent after reporting better-than-expected earnings. However, shares slumped, as revenue growth was meager amid slow online advertising sales.

IBM is a bright spot. The stock is up 2 percent after the company reported quarterly earnings of $2.32 per share, which easily beat Street estimates of $2.02. IBM also guided estimates higher for the full year.

While stock index futures slumped early on earnings, prices came off their worst levels of the day after housing data, released at 8:30 eastern time, showed some improvement.

According to the latest numbers, builders broke ground at an annualized rate of 582,000 homes in June, up from 562,000 in May and better than the 530,000 economists had expected. Building permits, a better gauge of future activity, rose from 518,000 to 563,000. Economists were expecting 524,000.

Bonds gave up early gains and fell on the strong data. The benchmark ten-year Treasury is down a few ticks and yields 3.58 percent.

The dollar edged up .13 to 93.84 on the yen. The euro slipped .0063 to 1.4075 on the greenback.

Crude oil slipped 40 cents to $61.62 a barrel and gold gave up $1.80 to $933.60.

Finally, the options expiration is likely to be a factor. While total volume was on the light side yesterday (about 80 percent of normal), the pace might pick up a bit; as today is the last day to trade July 2009 options contracts.