U.S. futures point to mixed open; Apple tumbles 7% in premarket

Investing.com - U.S. stock futures pointed to a mixed open on Tuesday, with the Nasdaq under pressure following Apple’s disappointing fiscal first quarter earnings report released after markets closed Monday.

Ahead of the open, the Dow Jones Industrial Average futures pointed to a gain of 0.6%, S&P 500 futures signaled a rise of 0.45%, while the Nasdaq 100 futures indicated a decline of 0.3%.

Apple saw shares tumble 7% in pre-market trade after the tech giant said iPhone sales fell short of market expectations and the company's fiscal second quarter revenue guidance came in below consensus.

Apple suppliers, such as Cirrus Logic, Qualcomm and Broadcom were all likely to be active. Cirrus, believed to get over 70% of its sales from Apple, reports earnings later in the day, while Qualcomm reports on Wednesday and Broadcom on Thursday.

Other stocks in focus include, Ford, Comcast, Yahoo and AT&T, which are all expected to release quarterly earnings on Tuesday.

U.S. chemicals giant EI DuPont De Nemours & Company reported better-than-expected fourth quarter earnings ahead of Tuesday’s opening bell, despite missing slightly on revenue figures.

DuPont said that earnings per share came in at USD0.59 during the final three months of 2013, beating expectations for earnings of USD0.55 per share. The company’s fourth quarter revenue totaled USD7.75 billion, below expectations for revenue of USD7.77 billion.

Markets were turning their attention to U.S. durable goods data due out later in the session as well as what will be a closely watch report on consumer confidence to gauge the strength of the economy.

Investors remained cautious ahead of the Federal Reserve’s highly anticipated policy meeting due to begin later Tuesday, with some expecting the central bank to cut its bond buying program to USD65 billion from the current USD75 billion.

The Fed announced its first cut to the USD85 billion in monthly bond purchases in December, citing an improving economy.

Across the Atlantic, European stock markets were higher. The EURO STOXX 50 rose 0.6%, France’s CAC 40 advanced 0.7%, Germany's DAX tacked on 0.6%, while Britain's FTSE 100 inched up 0.35%.

The U.K. economy grew 0.7% in the final quarter of 2013, to record the fastest annual rate of growth since 2007, according to preliminary data released by the Office of National Statistics on Tuesday.

Asian stock markets stabilized on Tuesday following two straight sessions of sharp losses, but caution prevailed amid fears over further turmoil in emerging markets.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index inched up 0.06%, China’s Shanghai Composite index added 0.26%, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index dipped 0.17%.