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* Futures off: Dow 0.19%, S&P 500 0.19%, Nasdaq 0.20%
By Shreyashi Sanyal and Arjun Panchadar
Oct 16 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures dipped on
Wednesday as a new U.S. bill taking a hard line on China stoked
fresh concerns about a prolonged trade war, but more positive
results from the banking sector provided some relief and
signaled a solid start to the third-quarter earnings season.
Bank of America BAC.N , the second-largest U.S. bank by
assets, rose 2.2% in premarket trading after beating
third-quarter profit estimates. This followed upbeat results on Tuesday from major U.S.
banks JPMorgan Chase & Co JPM.N , Citigroup Inc C.N and
healthcare giants Johnson & Johnson JNJ.N and UnitedHealth
Group Inc UNH.N .
Tech heavyweights Netflix Inc NFLX.O and International
Business Machines IBM.N are due to report later on Wednesday.
Analysts have forecast a 3% drop in third-quarter earnings
for S&P 500 companies, projecting their worst quarterly
performance in nearly three years, according to Refinitiv data.
The U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation on
Tuesday related to pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong and the
extradition of a Chinese telecom executive. In response, China
warned that bilateral relations would be damaged if the measures
became law. The two countries have been embroiled in a tit-for-tat
tariff war that has taken a toll on financial markets in the
past 15 months and dented growth in the global economy. Last
week, U.S. President Donald Trump announced a partial trade
deal, but it did not include concrete details.
At 7:22 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis 1YMcv1 were down 51 points,
or 0.19%. S&P 500 e-minis EScv1 were down 5.75 points, or
0.19% and Nasdaq 100 e-minis NQcv1 were down 16.25 points, or
0.2%.
A Commerce Department report at 8:30 a.m. ET is likely to
show U.S. retail sales rising 0.3% in September, after a 0.4%
gain in August.
Among other stocks, Achillion Pharmaceuticals Inc ACHN.O
surged 86.8% after drugmaker Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc
ALXN.O agreed to buy the biotech firm in a deal initially
valued at $930 million. PNC Financial Services Group Inc PNC.N gained 0.3% after
the regional bank beat Wall Street estimates for quarterly
profit. Eli Lilly and Co LLY.N fell 1.5% after the drugmaker said
its experimental pancreatic cancer treatment in combination with
a cocktail of chemotherapies did not meet the main goal in a
late-stage study.