New York - US stock index futures dipped on Monday, indicating the S&P 500 would retreat after its best two-day performance in four months, ahead of new Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen's first testimony before lawmakers on Tuesday.
* The benchmark S&P 500 rallied Friday in the index's first weekly gain in the past four, as investors looked past a disappointing payrolls report, eroded partly by frigid weather.
* Despite the soft payrolls data, the Federal Reserve is largely not expected to pause its efforts to scale back its stimulus measures.
* Yellen's first test as chair of the Federal Reserve comes Tuesday when she faces US lawmakers, some hostile to the central bank, who will want to know how committed she is to winding down the Fed's support for the economy.
* S&P 500 E-mini futures fell 5.25 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 41 points and Nasdaq 100 futures declined 4.5 points.
* Earnings season has moved into its latter stages, with 56 companies expected to report results this week.
* Of 343 companies in the S&P 500 that reported earnings through Friday, 67.9 percent beat Wall Street expectations, Thomson Reuters data showed, against 67 percent over the past four quarters, and ahead of the 63 percent rate since 1994.
* Hasbro Inc fell 3.2 percent to $48.50 in premarket trading after the toymaker reported a lower-than-expected quarterly profit on weak holiday sales in North America.
* Yelp Inc jumped 12.7 percent to $100.75 in premarket trading after the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday that Internet portal Yahoo was partnering with the consumer-reviews website to beef up local results in its search engine.
* AutoNavi Holdings Ltd surged 28.2 percent before the opening bell after Alibaba Group disclosed in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it had offered to buy all of the American Depositary Shares and outstanding shares in a going-private transaction.
* European shares inched higher, led by Nokia's gains, after settling patent claims with rival HTC and on relief that Wall Street had weathered weak US jobs figures.
* Most Asian markets made guarded gains in the wake of the US jobs report, though there was more than enough event risk ahead to keep investors cautious. - Reuters