US pre-open: Stocks seen a little higher ahead of Alcoa results

US futures pointed to a slightly firmer open on Wall Street as the dollar stabilised against the yen, with investors looking ahead to the start of the earnings season.

At 1115 BST, Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 futures were 0.3% higher while Nasdaq futures were up 0.4%.

In Europe, the main indices reversed opening losses to trade higher, with bank shares leading Italy’s FTSE Mib higher as investors waited to hear the outcome of a meeting between Italy’s central bank and Treasury officials aimed at potentially setting up a fund to deal with bad loans.

At the same time, oil prices nudged lower as hopes of an agreement to cap production at the OPEC meeting on 17 April faded.

West Texas Intermediate was down 0.4% to $39.55 a barrel and Brent crude was 0.3% lower at $41.80.

The dollar, meanwhile, was trading up 0.1% versus the safe-haven yen, after slipping below the Y108 level in Tokyo trading.

Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen is due to meet with President Barack Obama later in the day to discuss the US and global economy, Wall Street reform and the economic outlook.

Also on Monday, New York Fed President William Dudley will deliver a speech at the Association for Neighbourhood and Housing Development conference in New York at 1425 BST.

In corporate news, Yahoo was a little higher in pre-market trader after Daily Mail parent Daily Mail and General Trust confirmed it was in discussions to buy its assets.

Aluminium producer Alcoa's first quarter results were expected to be main event on the corporate front.

"Later today after the US close Alcoa will be releasing their quarterly earnings and therefore kicking off the US earnings season,” said Markus Huber, a trader with broker City of London Markets.

“This might just offer markets a chance to turn at least temporarily the main focus away from economic growth worries and therefore provide markets with some support in the days ahead should earnings news surprise to the upside.”

Meanwhile, Deutsche Bank strategist Jim Reid said: “It's hard to argue against overall street expectations for this quarter being particularly low and the interesting reports this week will more than likely come out from the banks which are expected to be a front runner for negative earnings growth this period.”