US Stock Futures Down; JPMorgan Earnings In Focus

US stock futures are lower this morning, as investors are awaiting earnings from JPMorgan Chase & Co JPM. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 50 points to 12,900.00 and S&P 500 index futures fell 6 points to 1,379.90. Nasdaq 100 futures dropped 9 points to 2,729.75. US stocks closed higher on Thursday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average surging 1.41% to 12,986.58, the S&P 500 index rising 1.38% to 1,387.57 and the Nasdaq 100 index gaining 1.30% to 3,055.55. The March Consumer Price Index will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. The University of Michigan's consumer-sentiment data for April will be released at 9:55 a.m. ET. Wells Fargo & Company WFC is projected to post its Q1 profit at $0.73 per share on revenue of $20.4 billion. iGATE Corporation IGTE is estimated to post its quarterly earnings at $0.32 per share on revenue of $270.27 million. The Talbots Inc TLB is expected to post a Q4 loss at $0.07 per share on revenue of $282.97 million. JPMorgan Chase & Co is projected to report its Q1 earnings at $11.6 per share on revenue of $24.4 billion. Google Inc GOOG reported a 61% rise in its Q1 profit. Coinstar Inc CSTR lifted its first-quarter and full-year revenue outlook. The Dow Chemical Company DOW announced its plans to lift its Q2 dividend by 28% to $0.32 per share. European markets were lower today. The STOXX Europe 600 Index declined 0.73%, London's FTSE 100 Index moved down 0.44%, French CAC 40 index fell 1.18% and German DAX 30 index dropped 0.89%. Asian markets ended mostly higher, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average rising 1.19%, China's Shanghai Composite rising 0.35% and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 moving up 0.97%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index gained 1.84% and India's Sensex dropped 1.37%. Nymex crude-oil futures dropped $0.51 to $103.13 a barrel in electronic trade. However, gold futures fell $7.40 to $1,673.20 an ounce. The dollar index (DXY) rose 0.3% to 79.498. The euro dropped 0.2% versus the US dollar to trade at $1.3152.