Early indications point to a steady open on expiration Friday. About an hour before the opening bell on Wall Street, stock index futures indicate that both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the NASDAQ will open little changed.

With no economic data on the docket and a light earnings calender, it’s a very slow news day.

PALM shares sank 16 percent after the company lowered its sales outlook for the fourth quarter. Some of the banking names are higher across Europe after Lloyds Banking Group said it expects a profit in 2010, as provisions for bad assets were not as bad as feared.

Energy, metals and miners might see weakness at the open after crude oil lost 68 cents to $81.57 a barrel and gold shed $6.3 to $1121.2 an ounce.

Bonds are under pressure in early pit trading. The benchmark ten-year Treasury is down 8/32nd and now yields 3.7 percent.

The dollar added .27 to 90.62 against the yen. Meanwhile, the euro is back under pressure, down .0063 to 1.3540, on concerns plans for a standby aid package for Greece might fail to win approval from German officials.

Finally, the quadruple witch options expiration might affect trading. Not only is it the last day to trade March equity, index, and ETF contracts, today is also a quarterly expiration for futures, single stock futures, and futures options as well.