US Stock Point Down Before JPMorgan Figures

* U.S. stock index futures pointed to a lower open on Wall Street on Thursday ahead of JPMorgan Chase's Q4 results as woes about the state of the banking industry persisted.

* At 1005 GMT, futures for the S&P 500 futures, Dow Jones futures and Nasdaq 100 were down between 0.5 and 2.2 percent

* JPMorgan Chase Q4 earnings kick off what is expected to be a very grim reporting season for the banking sector. The fourth quarter is the first full three-month period since JPMorgan's $1.9 billion purchase of most of the assets of Seattle's Washington Mutual, the largest U.S. banking failure.

JPMorgan shares in Frankfurt were 2.8 percent higher.

* Intel is reporting Q4 results. Analysts expect the company to earn 4 cents per share, down from 38 cents a year earlier, according to Reuters Estimates. Intel shares in Frankfurt were down 1.1 percent.

* Investors are also likely to focus on Marshall & Ilsley Q4 results which may signal the depth and breadth of deterioration in U.S. credit conditions. The market expects the company to earn 8 cents per share, down from 15 cents a year earlier, according to Reuters Estimates.

* Genentech kicks off Q4 earnings reporting for the healthcare sector amid concerns that sales for some of its key products will come in below expectations based on early prescription data. Analysts expect the company to earn 96 cents per share, up from 69 cents a year earlier, according to Reuters Estimates.

* After the bell, on Wednesday, Bank of America shares dropped more than 5 percent following a Wall Street Journal report the bank is close to receiving billions of dollars in additional government aid to help it digest its purchase of Merrill Lynch. Bank of America shares in Frankfurt fell 4 percent.

* Investors will eye the New York Fed Empire State Manufacturing Survey out at 1330 GMT for January with economists in a Reuters survey expecting a reading of -25.00 compared with -25.76 in December.

* The U.S. Labor Department will release the December Producer Price Index (PPI) out at 1330 GMT with economists in a Reuters survey forecasting a 2 percent fall compared with a 2.2 percent fall in November.

* Weekly U.S. Jobless Claims are out at 1330 GMT with economists in a Reuters survey forecasting a total of 500,000 new filings compared with 467,000 in the prior week.

* U.S. stocks fell to six-week lows on Wednesday on worries about steeper losses at banks worldwide and as U.S. retail sales data pointed to a deepening recession.

* The Dow Jones industrial average ended down 2.9 percent, the S&P 500 index ended down 3.4 percent and the Nasdaq Composite index closed down 3.7 percent.