- US stock futures treaded water on Friday ahead of the release of key bank earnings.
- JPMorgan, Wells Fargo, and BlackRock are among the Wall Street titans publishing quarterly reports.
- JPMorgan and BlackRock's CEOs, Jamie Dimon and Larry Fink, are both expected to provide commentary.
Stocks barely budged in premarket trading on Friday as investors awaited earnings from several Wall Street heavyweights.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were up 0.2% shortly after 5 a.m. ET, while Nasdaq 100 futures were down 0.1%, and S&P 500 futures were flat.
The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield dropped by 0.05% to 4.54%. The US Dollar Index — which measures the buck's value against a basket of foreign currencies — rose to just over 105 points, its highest level since November.
JPMorgan and BlackRock, respectively led by billionaire CEOs Jamie Dimon and Larry Fink, are scheduled to report their first-quarter results on Friday. Wells Fargo, Citigroup, BlackRock, and State Street are also on the earnings calendar.
"Forecasts are for another strong earnings report for the US's largest bank," Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB, said about JPMorgan in a morning note.
"With the market now expecting higher for longer from the Fed, net interest income should continue to be a pillar of support for bank earnings in the future. This could boost the financial sector of the S&P 500, which reached a record high in recent weeks."
Wall Street will be eager for good news from some of its biggest players, after a surprisingly hot monthly inflation reading this week squashed hopes that the Federal Reserve might start cutting interest rates as early as June.
"Stickier-than-expected CPI numbers from the US, together with elevated geopolitical tensions, means the general sense of uncertainty has increased," Sophie Lund-Yates, the lead equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said in a morning note.
The economic calendar for Friday includes fresh data on import prices and consumer sentiment, plus scheduled comments from Raphael Bostic and Mary Daly, the respective presidents of the Atlanta Fed and San Francisco Fed.
