Boeing up in preopen trade after winning Air Force contract U.S. stocks marked a third-straight losing session on Thursday, but losses pared in the afternoon amid a fall in crude prices over questions over Libyan leader Col. Moammar Gadhafi’s grip on the country. A pledge over emergency oil stockpiles from the International Energy Agency and promises from other oil providing nations also helped ease tensions. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA 12,069, -37.28, -0.31%) closed down 37.28 points to 12,068.50, the biggest three-day decline since August. The Nasdaq Composite managed to close higher (COMP 2,738, +14.91, +0.55%) , while the S&P 500 (SPX 1,306, -1.30, -0.10%) finished slightly lower. Nymex crude oil for April delivery (CLJ11 97.85, +0.57, +0.59%) was below the $100 a barrel mark, up 27 cents to $97.56 after a sharp run in recent days owing to tensions in the Mideast and North Africa. The pullback in oil prices helped support Asian and European markets as well. Investors are expected to turn their focus to data on Friday. The second reading of U.S. gross-domestic-product data for the fourth quarter is scheduled for release at 8:30 a.m. Eastern time, while the final UMich index of consumer confidence for February is due after the market opens. “Markets will likely start paying more attention to consumer and business confidence surveys to assess the impact of the escalating oil prices,” said Jim Reid, strategist with Deutsche Bank, in a note to investors. “Our U.S. economists quantified that every one penny increase in gasoline is worth about $1 billion in household energy consumption, hence a sustained $10 increase in oil prices translates into $25 billion in additional household energy spending, effectively acting as a tax,” he said. Stocks in focus for Friday include Boeing Co. (BA 70.76, +0.53, +0.75%) . Those shares were up nearly 5% in preopen trading after the Air Force awarded a $30 billion tanker deal to the company a day earlier, nudging out its European rival EADS SA. Read about Boeing’s tanker deal. U.S.-listed shares of Lloyds Banking Group PLC (LYG 4.18, -0.04, -0.95%) fell 5% after the group’s 2010 earnings topped forecasts, but analysts focused on a disappointing margin and integration costs. Read about Lloyds. American International Group (AIG 40.43, +0.43, +1.08%) could be in focus after the group late Thursday reported a jump in fourth-quarter profit to $11.2 billion on asset sales. See AIG’s profit jumps on asset sales. Shares of Applied Materials Inc. (AMAT 15.83, +0.19, +1.21%) could be active after the semiconductor-equipment group reported a leap in net income. Other companies due to report ahead of the market open include J.C. Penney Co. Inc (JCP 36.55, +0.81, +2.27%) , Pepco Holdings Inc. (POM 18.46, -0.29, -1.55%) , Tenet Healthcare Corp. (THC 6.97, +0.07, +1.01%) and Interpublic Group of Cos. (IPG 11.62, +0.10, +0.87%) . In Europe, shares managed to break a five-day losing streak, helped by strength in the financial sector, though trading on London markets was halted over a systems glitch. Asia stocks were mostly higher with investors moving in to snap up shares that have sold off in recent days after crude pulled back. Read about Europe Markets. | Read about Asia Markets. Gold futures for April delivery fell $11.10 to $1,404.70, while the dollar was mostly steady.

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