Stocks are looking to open to the upside Friday, after suffering through a very weak close yesterday.

Techs are getting a boost after it was reported that the SEC looked at IBM’s accounting and found no reason for concern.

There’s some economic data out at long last today too. U.S. retail sales came in up 0.2% in March, a bit weaker than expected. The number suggests that the recovery may be slower and steadier than some are expecting, and so interest rates may stay down for a while, too.

Although, the U.S. Producer Price Index was reported up 1%. Inflation appears to hardly be a worry at the core though, with the PPI excluding energy and food, up just 0.1%.

In Europe, stocks are rebounding today on newfound profit hopes. Banks, such as Lloyds TSB Group plc, Barclays plc and Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA are leading the way higher. The FTSE is up 26 points to 5,164. The CAC 40 has added 16 points to 4,457. The DAX has gains of 10 points to 5,173.

Overnight in Asia, stocks closed the week lower, following yesterday’s U.S. selloff. The Nikkei dropped 184 points to 10,963. The Hang Seng lost 34 points to 10,710.

In M&A news, Enterprise Inns plc is buying 1,860 pubs from Laurel Pub Holdings for about US$1.26 billion.

Also, LINMOR Inc. announced that it expects to report lower than expected revenues for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2002 and that it will not reach EBITDA breakeven in the fourth quarter as originally expected.