US Stock Futures Suggest Subdued Opening Tuesday; Earnings, Data On Existing Home Sales To Influence Investors

Following a return to form Monday, which saw stocks rack up further gains over last week's rally, investors will once again look to corporate earnings to move markets, even as stock futures suggest a slow start to the trading session.

Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were down 0.01 percent and futures on the S&P 500 were down 0.03 percent while those on the Nasdaq were up 0.09 percent. On Monday, the Dow gained 0.25 percent and the S&P 500 rose 0.38 percent while the Nasdaq rose 0.64 percent.

Comcast Corp. (NASDAQ:CMCSA), Lockheed Martin Corp (NYSE:LMT), United Technologies Corp. (NYSE:UTX) and Xerox Corp (NYSE:XRX) are among the companies expected to report quarterly results before the markets open. VMware Inc (NYSE:VMW) and Yum! Brands Inc (NYSE:YUM) are among those scheduled to announce earnings after markets open. On the data front, existing home sales numbers for March will be released at 10 a.m. EDT.

In Europe, markets were positive with the Stoxx Europe 600 index up 0.94 percent while the FTSE 100 was up 0.92 percent. Germany’s DAX-30 rose 1.07 percent while France's CAC-40 was up 0.67 percent.

In Asia, Japan's Nikkei-225 ended the day down 0.85 percent while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.46 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slipped 0.13 percent while the Shanghai Composite rose 0.34 percent. South Korea’s Kospi gained 0.25 percent, while India's BSE Sensex was trading down 0.04 percent.