US pre-open: Stocks seen higher as JPMorgan impresses with Q1 numbers
US stocks looked set to rise at the open on Friday as bellwether JPMorgan Chase kicked off the first-quarter earnings season in style.
At 1210 BST, Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 futures were up 0.7% and 0.5%, respectively, while Nasdaq futures were 0.4% higher.
Shares in JPMorgan Chase looked set to rally at the open after the bank's first-quarter profit and revenue beat analysts' expectations. Profit rose 5% to $9.18bn or $2.65 a share, exceeding expectations of around $2.35 a share. Revenue was also up 5%, to $29.9bn, coming in about $1.5 billion better than expected.
Wells Fargo is also slated to report its first-quarter numbers.
Anadarko Petroleum shares looked set to surge at the open after it agreed to be bought by Chevron in a $33bn cash and stock deal.
Walt Disney was in the green after announcing a streaming service aimed at rivalling Netflix, whose shares fell 1% in pre-market trade.
Elsewhere, Tracon Pharmaceuticals share slid 45% in pre-market trade after the company announced the termination of a late-stage trial of a cancer treatment.
Market participants were also digesting some mixed data out of China.
Exports surged past expectations in March, rising 14.2% in US dollar terms from the previous year amid the ongoing trade dispute with the US, following a 20.8% drop in February. However, imports declined 7.6% compared to a 5.2% fall the month before. Analysts had been expecting exports to rise 6.5% and imports to edge up 0.2%.
Meanwhile, new loans and lending jumped higher in March, with M2 money supply up 8.6% on the year versus expectations for an 8.2% increase, and new loans coming in at 1.69 trillion yuan compared to expectations of 1.25 trillion.
David Cheetham, chief market analyst at XTB, said: "Compared to levels seen in recent years these figures aren’t actually that elevated, but they do represent a pick-up compared to the latest numbers and suggest the world’s second largest economy is scaling back on its deleveraging efforts in a bid to bolster growth.
"In itself this data could be described as only mildly supportive of risk assets but the clear positive market reaction reveals how both equities and crude oil retain a heightened sensitivity to good news at present, while looking through any negatives - a pleasing scenario for bulls."