U.S. stock futures pare losses as investors try to push past concerns over regional lenders- MarketWatch

U.S. stock futures have pared sharper losses from earlier that were driven by concerns over the health of regional lenders. Dow industrials futures were last down just 58 points from a nearly 500-points slump earlier on Friday, while S&P 500 futures were off 24 points or 0.3%, though Nasdaq-100 futures were off 0.5% or 134 points. Worries over the health of regional U.S. lenderstriggered selling for the sector and weighed on major indexes on Thursday, but investors were attempting to shake that off. Investors were also getting more earnings results on Friday. Regional lender Regions Financial logged higher third-quarter profit that beat forecasts and revenue that met forecasts. Shares of the lender were modestly higher. American Express shares inched higherafter reporting earnings and revenue that beat forecaststhanks to increased credit-card spending by consumers. Wall Street's so-called fear gauge, or the Cboe Volatility Index, was hovering at just over 24, around its highest level in months. It had reached as high as 28 earlier.