By Victor Reklaitis, MarketWatch

J&J rises after earnings; Molson Coors up after deal news

U.S. stock futures pointed to a lower open on Tuesday, with weak Chinese trade data getting blamed for the slip after a seven-session winning streak for the Dow industrials.

Johnson & Johnson shares rose in premarket trading after the health care company's quarterly earnings topped expectations, while Molson Coors Brewing Co. shares also gained as a huge beer-industry deal moved closer to becoming a reality.

Dow Jones Industrial Average futures traded down 78 points, or 0.5%, to 16,962, and those for the S&P 500 dropped by 9.40 points, or 0.5%, to 2,001.50. Nasdaq 100 futures declined by 25 points, or 0.6%, to 4,350.

China's exports and imports fell in September (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/china-exports-imports-fall-in-september-2015-10-13) as worldwide demand stayed soft, highlighting how the world's No. 2 economy is struggling. The weak Chinese trade reading "led Asia to close in the red," with Europe and U.S. futures also lower, said Nour Al-Hammoury, chief market strategist at ADS Securities, in a note early Tuesday.

On Monday, the Dow closed higher for a seventh day in a row for its longest winning streak of 2015 (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/dow-set-for-7th-day-of-gains-as-asian-stocks-soar-2015-10-12), while the S&P 500 finished up 0.1%.

Movers & shakers: Shares of Johnson & Johnson(JNJ) rose 0.5% before the bell as the company posted adjusted earnings per share of $1.49 (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/johnson-johnson-beats-earnings-expectations-raises-outlook-2015-10-13), above the FactSet consensus of $1.43, while also raising its outlook.

U.S.-listed shares of Anheuser-Busch InBev NV(ABI.BT) and SABMiller PLC(SAB.JO) could see active trading after SABMiller's board agreed on the key terms of a sweetened potential takeover (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/sabmiller-ab-inbev-agree-on-deal-in-principle-2015-10-13-24854852) offer by its beer-making rival. The deal would be valued at 68 billion pounds ($104.5 billion).

Shares in Molson Coors Brewing Co.(TAP) jumped 8% premarket in the wake of the deal news, for the biggest gain among S&P 500 components.

Intel Corp.(INTC), CSX Corp.(CSX) and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.(JPM) are among the companies slated to post quarterly results after the market's close.

Other markets:Most Asian markets dropped (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/asian-shares-weaker-after-china-export-data-signals-slowdown-2015-10-13) after the soft Chinese trade data, though the Shanghai Composite ended slightly higher. Elsewhere, the Stoxx Europe 600 (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/european-stocks-veer-toward-lowest-close-in-almost-two-weeks-2015-10-13) was trading more than 1% lower as the closely watched ZEW survey showed a drop in German economic sentiment.

Gold futures retreated, while oil futures struggled for direction and a key dollar index was roughly flat.

The U.S. economy: St. Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard said in a speech early Tuesday that the Fed should gradually raise interest rates (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/feds-bullard-calls-for-gradually-edging-rates-higher-2015-10-13). He will be a voting member of the Fed's policy-making body in 2016.

A reading on small business optimism was little changed (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/small-businesses-still-not-very-optimistic-nfib-says-2015-10-13) in September, edging up 0.2 points to 96.1. That's still below the 42-year average of 98. There are no top-tier U.S. economic releases scheduled for Tuesday.

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 13, 2015 08:19 ET (12:19 GMT)