Investors are preparing for a slew of big earnings announcements Wednesday. But futures do not look encouraging.
Ahead of the opening bell, futures for the Dow Jones Industrials let go of 111 points, or 0.7%, to 16,144. Futures for the S&P 500 fell 16.5 points, or 0.9%, to 1,858.25, and futures for the NASDAQ jettisoned 29 points, or 0.8%, to 3,782.75.
Bank of America and BlackRock will report quarterly results before the opening bell. American Express, eBay and Netflix will report after the close.
Markets are also ready to react to Intel earnings. Shares are rising by about 1.5% pre-market after the company reported a 12% jump in quarterly income compared to last year.
Shares in the U.K. pharmaceutical giant Shire dropped like a rock this morning -- down by as much as 29% -- following indications that U.S. drugmaker AbbVie may ditch its $55-billion U.S. takeover of the company.
AbbVie said Tuesday that its board of directors is taking another look at the deal after the Obama Administration introduced measures last month to make it harder for American companies to reduce their tax bills by merging with foreign firms and moving abroad.
The U.S. Census Bureau will report monthly retail sales this morning.
At 2 p.m. ET, the Federal Reserve will release its Beige Book, which is a compilation of anecdotal information about the state of the U.S. economy.
On the other side of the ponds, European markets were lower. Asian markets mostly closed with gains.
Shares in Toyota edged slightly higher in Japan despite the automaker's announcement of major recalls covering more than 1.75 million cars. The company's stock has declined by 7% since the start of the year.
Oil prices dropped 54 cents to $81.30 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices faded five dollars to $1,229.30 U.S. an ounce.