The New York Stock Exchange is expected to start the trading day lower on Friday morning, following the kick-off of the earnings season, marked by contrasting publications from several major US banks.

Half an hour before the opening, futures on the main New York indices fell by 0.6% to 0.8%, heralding a session start in the red.

While this new earnings season has raised many hopes, the mixed performances unveiled by several financial services groups dampened investor enthusiasm somewhat this morning.

JPMorgan Chase, the leading US bank in terms of assets, lost almost 3% in pre-opening trading, despite reporting earnings per share (EPS) well ahead of expectations.

But analysts' main takeaway from the release was Chief Executive Jamie Dimon's concern that inflationary pressures were persistent and "likely to persist".

Penalized by the recent reawakening of inflation in the US, which was confirmed in the statistics released this week, the Dow Jones and S&P 500 are heading for limited declines this week.

For its part, Wells Fargo is also expected to decline following the announcement of a sharper-than-expected drop in its quarterly profit.

Citigroup's share price is up on the back of much better-than-expected quarterly results, which come after the New York-based group completed a major restructuring plan last month.

On the economic front, import prices rose by 0.4% in March compared with the previous month, but their increase was limited to 0.1% excluding petroleum products, according to the Labor Department.

Compared with the same month in 2023, import prices rose by 0.4% last month and remained stable excluding petroleum products.

Investors are now awaiting the preliminary version of the University of Michigan's consumer confidence index, to be released shortly after the opening.

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