Stock futures were modestly lower early Friday ahead of closely-watched economic reports on inflation and retail sales. As of 6:25 a.m. in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were down 25 points, or 0.24%, to 10246, the S&P 500 futures lost 5 points to 1822.25 and the Nasdaq 100 futures lost 4.1 points to 1075.10. After several dismal economic reports have sent the markets falling all this week, U.S. investors will get the consumer price index report from the Labor Department and nationwide retail sales from the Commerce Department both at 8:30 a.m. ET. Economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters expect that July's CPI report will show inflation rose a modest 0.2% last month compared with the 0.1% decline reported in May. Core CPI, which exclude volatile food and energy costs, is expected to rise 0.1%. The retail sales data will most likely have a heavy influence on market activity today, especially as traders remain concerned that the U.S. economy is heading into an economic slowdown. Economists expect retail sales rose 0.5% in July compared with the prior month's decline 0.5%. Excluding auto sales, retail sales are expected to rise 0.2%. Other economic data out today includes the University of Michigan consumer sentiment report and a government report on business inventories, both out at around 10 a.m. ET. In commodities, oil was up 0.26% to $75.94 a barrel and gold was up 0.03% to $1,217.10 a troy ounce. On Thursday, the Dow fell 58.88 points, or 0.57%, to 10319.95, the Standard & Poor's 500 dropped 5.86 points, or 0.54%, to 1083.61 and the Nasdaq Composite sank 18.36 points, or 0.83%, to 2190.27. The FOX 50 slid 2.38 points, or 0.30%, to 786.08.

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