By Jem Bartholomew

Here's what we're watching as markets kick into gear Friday.

-- Stock futures wavered near the flatline, putting Wall Street on track to end a choppy week with muted losses. Futures tied to the S&P 500 edged down 0.1%, while Dow Jones Industrial Average futures fell 0.2%. Read our full market wrap here.

-- What's coming up. A measure of European consumer confidence is due at 10 a.m. ET, and the Baker Hughes rig count, a proxy for drilling activity in the oil industry, is expected at 1 p.m.

-- IPOs to watch. Maravai LifeSciences Holdings and Sotera Health are expected to begin trading Friday.

-- Pfizer said it plans to ask U.S. health regulators on Friday to permit use of its Covid-19 vaccine, a milepost in months of frantic efforts to find a medicine that could beat back a rampaging pandemic. It could put the vaccine on track for distribution in December if cleared quickly. The pharmaceutical company's shares climbed 1.7% in offhours trading.

Market Movers to Watch

-- Gilead Sciences fell 1.2% before the bell after the World Health Organization recommended against the use of antiviral drug remdesivir for Covid-19.

-- Moderna, another company in the race for a coronavirus vaccine, saw its shares climb premarket more than 3%.

-- Ross Stores gained 3.5% offhours after the retailer posted third-quarter earnings that beat analysts' predictions.

-- Workday dropped 2.8% premarket after the cloud-software company warned of lingering Covid-19 effects, despite reporting profit and revenue that topped Wall Street's expectations.

-- Foot Locker advanced 2.6% premarket after the shoe retailer posted quarterly earnings that beat analysts' expectations.

-- Occidental Petroleum jumped 2% before the market opened after Susquehanna Community Financial said the oil company's share price would rise to $18 a share. Occidental closed Thursday at $13.36.

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

11-20-20 0815ET