Stock futures off, Dow, S&P seek 7th week of gains

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures fell
on Friday despite strong quarterly results from
JPMorgan Chase & Co as the Dow Industrials and
S&P 500 looked to close out a seventh week of
gains.
JPMorgan , the first major financial company to
report, post a 47 percent jump in quarterly profit,
helped by narrowing losses on bad loans. Chief
Executive Jamie Dimon said there were signs of
stability and growth returning to the U.S.
economy.
The expectations of strong earnings have lifted
equities in recent weeks, with the S&P 500
hovering near a 28-month high. JPMorgan has
risen 4.8 percent since the start of January,
dipped 0.3 percent to $44.31 in volatile premarket
trading.
"JPMorgan's results make me more optimistic
about what we could see out of other large
banks, but everyone is ready to take a bit of the
break given the tremendous run-up we've had,"
said Oliver Pursche, president at Gary Goldberg
Financial Services in Suffern, New York.
While results were above expectations, "they're
not blowing anyone away. That's why they're
not enough to move the futures."
China raised bank reserve requirements, offering
more evidence that its central bank was preparing
to allow economic growth to slow as it battles
inflation.
Intel Corp added to the optimism over company
earnings after posting better-than-expected
quarterly profit late Thursday. The technology
bellwether also forecast strong revenues for the
coming quarter. Intel, a Dow component, rose
1.6 percent to $21.64 in premarket trading and
helped limit losses in Nasdaq futures.
S&P 500 futures fell 3.8 points and were below
fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by
taking into account interest rates, dividends and
time to expiration on the contract. Dow Jones
industrial average futures fell 53 points, and
Nasdaq 100 futures lost 3 points.
A pair of datapoints on the consumer will be
closely watched by investors. December retail
sales, to be released at 8:30 a.m. EST, are seen
rising 0.8 percent, matching the previous month.
The preliminary Reuters/University of Michigan
January sentiment number will be released at
9:55 a.m. (1455 GMT), and is seen edging up to
75.4 from 74.5 in the previous month.
French drugmaker Sanofi-Aventis SA hopes to
reach a takeover deal that would value U.S. target
Genzyme at around $76 per share, or some $20
billion, the French daily Le Figaro reported.
Genzyme edged 0.3 percent higher to $72.60 in
premarket trading.
Bristol-Myers Squibb Co has recalled 64 million
tablets of the blood pressure medicine Avalide in
the United States and Puerto Rico, marking the
second major recall of the medicine in less than
four months. The stock closed at $25.90.
U.S. stocks edged lower Thursday, hurt by a
slide in drugmaker Merck & Co Inc and as falling
commodities prices hit shares of natural resource
companies.


Source: Http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/news/article.aspx?feed=OBR&date=20110114&id=12542112