US STOCKS-Futures dip after three days of gains; eyes on earnings

* Futures down: Dow 22 pts, S&P 3.25 pts, Nasdaq 1 pt

By Tanya Agrawal

April 13 (Reuters) – S&P Futures pulled back after three straight days of gains, as the corporate earnings season was poised to kick into high gear with a slew of reports this week.

* Big banks, including JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America, are due to report results for the first quarter, providing an expected bright spot in an otherwise gloomy quarter. Profits of companies on the S&P 500 are projected to have declined 2.9 percent in the first three months from a year ago, according to Thomson Reuters data.

* Apple shares edged up 0.3 percent in premarket trading after analysts said the company is likely to ramp up production of the Apple Watch after strong pre-orders outstripped supply in the first weekend following its launch.

* Qualcomm shares were up 4.8 percent after the WSJ reported that activist investor Jana Partners had asked the chipmaker to consider spinning off its chip unit from its patent-licensing business to boost its sagging stock price.

* Weak export data from China weighed on sentiment in Europe. The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 share index, which touched its highest since 2000 on Friday, edged lower.

Futures snapshot at 7:30 a.m. EDT (1130 GMT):

* S&P 500 e-minis were down 3.25 points, or 0.16 percent, with 78,452 contracts changing hands.

* Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 1 points, or 0.02 percent, in volume of 11,417 contracts.

* Dow e-minis were down 22 points, or 0.12 percent, with 13,665 contracts changing hands.

(Editing by Bernadette Baum)