U.S. stock index futures fell on Friday despite strong quarterly results from JPMorgan Chase & Co as the Dow Industrials and S&P 500 looked to close out a seventh week of gains.

JPMorgan , the first major financial company to report, post a 47 percent jump in quarterly profit, helped by narrowing losses on bad loans. Chief Executive Jamie Dimon said there were signs of stability and growth returning to the U.S. economy.

The expectations of strong earnings have lifted equities in recent weeks, with the S&P 500 hovering near a 28-month high. JPMorgan has risen 4.8 percent since the start of January, dipped 0.3 percent to $44.31 in volatile premarket trading.

JPMorgan's results make me more optimistic about what we could see out of other large banks, but everyone is ready to take a bit of the break given the tremendous run-up we've had, said Oliver Pursche, president at Gary Goldberg Financial Services in Suffern, New York.

While results were above expectations, they're not blowing anyone away. That's why they're not enough to move the futures.

China raised bank reserve requirements, offering more evidence that its central bank was preparing to allow economic growth to slow as it battles inflation.

Intel Corp added to the optimism over company earnings after posting better-than-expected quarterly profit late Thursday. The technology bellwether also forecast strong revenues for the coming quarter. Intel, a Dow component, rose 1.6 percent to $21.64 in premarket trading and helped limit losses in Nasdaq futures.

S&P 500 futures fell 3.8 points and were below fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures fell 53 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures lost 3 points.

A pair of datapoints on the consumer will be closely watched by investors. December retail sales, to be released at 8:30 a.m. EST, are seen rising 0.8 percent, matching the previous month.

The preliminary Reuters/University of Michigan January sentiment number will be released at 9:55 a.m. (1455 GMT), and is seen edging up to 75.4 from 74.5 in the previous month.

French drugmaker Sanofi-Aventis SA hopes to reach a takeover deal that would value U.S. target Genzyme at around $76 per share, or some $20 billion, the French daily Le Figaro reported. Genzyme edged 0.3 percent higher to $72.60 in premarket trading.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Co has recalled 64 million tablets of the blood pressure medicine Avalide in the United States and Puerto Rico, marking the second major recall of the medicine in less than four months. The stock closed at $25.90.

U.S. stocks edged lower Thursday, hurt by a slide in drugmaker Merck & Co Inc and as falling commodities prices hit shares of natural resource companies.

(Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)

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