US pre-open: Stocks seen higher on encouraging China data; JPM earnings eyed

US futures pointed to a firmer open on Wall Street following encouraging Chinese export data, as investors looked to results from banking bellwether JPMorgan Chase.

At 1140 BST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 futures were up 0.5%, while Nasdaq futures were 0.7% higher.

At the same time, oil prices were in the red as investors worried that Sunday’s producer meeting in Doha would do little to curb overproduction. Comments by oil minister Ali al-Naimi in Saudi-owned al-Hayat newspaper also weighed, as he reiterated his country's position that an outright production cut was not an option.

West Texas Intermediate was down 1.5% to $41.54 a barrel and Brent crude was 1.2% lower at $44.17.

China’s yuan-denominated exports rose 18.7% in March compared to the same month a year ago, marking their biggest increase in over a year.

Yuan-denominated imports, meanwhile, fell 1.7% on the year compared with an 8% decline the previous month and giving a trade surplus of 194.6bn yuan.

In dollar terms, exports grew 11.5% to $160.8bn after dropping 25% in February, beating consensus forecasts for a 10% rise. Dollar-denominated imports fell 13.8% to $131bn.

Still, analysts warned that the improvement was partly down to a seasonal upturn.

In corporate news, Peabody Energy shares tumbled more than 70% in pre-market trade after the company filed for Chapter 11 protection from its creditors, having warned recently that it could go bankrupt.

Herb and spice manufacturer McCormick & Co. was likely to be in focus after announcing that it has abandoned takeover talks with London-listed Premier Foods.

Investors will turn their attention to first-quarter results from JPMorgan ahead of the open, which is expected to report its first year-on-year earnings drop in five quarters.

“One of today’s big hurdles will be JPMorgan Chase earnings, which will provide a key barometer for the banking sector as a whole ahead of BoA and Wells Fargo releases tomorrow. With rock bottom interest rates, a lack of M&A activity and an increasingly tough regulatory environment to operate within, banking stocks are expected to suffer over the coming weeks.

"However, given expectations for this earnings season are at rock bottom, perhaps the saving grace will be the fact the bar is set so low,” said Joshua Mahony, market analyst at IG.

In currencies, the dollar was 0.2% firmer against the pound, 0.7% stronger versus the euro and 0.6% higher compared with the yen.

On the macroeconomic front, US PPI and retail sales are at 1330 BST, while business inventories are at 1500 BST.