Futures edge lower with earnings awaited

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures edged lower on Tuesday as investors awaited a number of key earnings results, including from a pair of large-cap banks.

* Both JPMorgan Chase & Co and Johnson & Johnson are scheduled to report Tuesday morning, with Intel Corp expected after the market closes. All three are Dow components, and in addition to JPMorgan, Wells Fargo & Co is also scheduled to result.

* Trading could be light until those names come in and give the market direction, but concerns have been growing that this earnings season will be weak due to lower oil prices -- expected to sharply weigh on energy profits - and a strong U.S. dollar -- which tends to hurt profits for U.S. multinationals.

* Late Monday, Norfolk Southern Corp forecast a surprise drop in its first-quarter earnings and revenue.

* First-quarter profits for S&P 500 companies are seen falling 2.9 percent, according to Thomson Reuters data. On Jan 1, analysts were looking for growth of 5.3 percent.

* In deal news, Nokia Oyj is in talks to buy Alcatel-Lucent , a deal that would combine the telecom industry's two weakest players but could pose challenges in cutting costs and overcoming political opposition.

* U.S. shares of Nokia fell 7 percent to $7.72 in heavy premarket trading while Alcatel rose 3.9 percent to $4.52 on the New York Stock Exchange.

Futures snapshot at 631 ET:

* S&P 500 e-minis were down 1.5 points, or 0.07 percent, with 91,069 contracts changing hands.

* Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 6 points, or 0.14 percent, in volume of 14,000 contracts.

* Dow e-minis <1YMc1> were down 12 points, or 0.07 percent, with 17,460 contracts changing hands.

(Editing by Keith Weir)