US benchmark equity indexes were tracking in the red before the opening bell Friday as traders digest President Donald Trump's call to lower interest rates and oil prices.

Standard & Poor's 500 and the Nasdaq declined 0.2% each in premarket activity, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average edged down 0.1%. The majority of Asian and European exchanges were pointing higher.

Speaking remotely at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland on Thursday, Trump pushed for lower interest rates and said he's going to ask Saudi Arabia and the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to bring down the cost of oil.

Shares of Boeing (BA) were down 1.5% pre-bell as the plane maker announced a preliminary fourth-quarter loss wider than Wall Street's current estimates. Twilio (TWLO) jumped 18% as the company reported preliminary fourth-quarter results.

Texas Instruments (TXN) shares decreased 4.5% as the semiconductor manufacturer issued a downbeat earnings outlook for the ongoing quarter. Intuitive Surgical (ISRG) was off 2.8% while CSX (CSX) fell 3.2% as the companies reported their latest quarterly results.

American Express (AXP), Verizon Communications (VZ), NextEra Energy (NEE), HCA Healthcare (HCA) and First Citizens BancShares (FCNCA) are set to release their latest financial statements early Friday, among others.

On the economic calendar, the purchasing managers' index report from S&P Global for January is out at 9:45 am ET, followed by the existing home sales report for December and the final University of Michigan consumer sentiment report for this month at 10 am. The weekly Baker Hughes domestic oil-and-gas rig count is set for a 1 pm release.

Before the opening bell, bitcoin increased 0.9% to $105,435, West Texas Intermediate crude oil moved up 0.4% to $74.92 a barrel, yields on 10-year Treasuries were nearly unchanged at 4.64% and gold rose 0.7% to $2,784 an ounce.