Stock futures lower as investors await earnings

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stock index futures pointed to a lower open on Monday as investors paused after a five-week rally to prepare for key company earnings later in the week, and braced for a potential bankruptcy filing from General Motors.

Key banks, which kicked off a rally in early March when several institutions said they were profitable in the first two months of the year, will report quarterly earnings this week, giving investors a fresh insight into the health of the sector.

Goldman Sachs , JPMorgan , Citigroup and General Electric are all set to report their latest quarterly results this week.

Also hitting sentiment, the U.S. Treasury Department is directing General Motors to lay the groundwork for a bankruptcy filing by June 1, despite the company's contention that it could still reorganize outside court, The New York Times reported on Sunday, citing unnamed people with knowledge of the plan. GM's stock fell 11.76 percent in premarket trade to $1.80.

"We had a big move on Friday, it appears that we are having a little pause ahead of some additional earnings that will be coming out," said Andre Bakhos, president of Princeton Financial Group in Princeton, New Jersey

"Bank earnings will be key, the market will (also) be looking at consumer orientated stocks to see the mind-set of the consumer," he added.

S&P 500 futures fell 6.3 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 lost 47 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures slipped 7.75 points.

Financial stocks retreated in pre-market trade, with JPMorgan down 2 percent to $32.11 and Citigroup down 3.3 percent to $ $3.04.

Wells Fargo & Co fell 2.2 percent to $19.17. percent after KBW cut the stock to "underperform" from "market perform," citing valuation.

In merger news Express Scripts Inc has agreed to buy WellPoint Inc's NextRx subsidiaries for $4.68 billion, the companies said in a statement.

(Reporting by Edward Krudy; Editing by Theodore d'Afflisio)