U.S. stock futures weakened Tuesday ahead of a wave of earnings...

U.S. stock futures weakened Tuesday ahead of a wave of earnings reports from the likes of DuPont, 3M and Pfizer that could sap the enthusiasm from signs of a thaw in money markets and a call for fresh fiscal stimulus.

S&P 500 futures fell 8.8 points to 981.60 and Nasdaq 100 futures fell 20.5 points to 1,339.50. Dow industrial futures fell 99 points.

U.S. stocks surged on Monday after a key inter-bank lending rate dropped and after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke endorsed a second stimulus package. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rocketed 411 points, the S&P 500 added 44 points and the Nasdaq Composite climbed 58 points.


Earnings will be in focus Tuesday with reports due from Dow industrials components DuPont, Caterpillar , Pfizer and 3M .

A fifth Dow component, American Express , reported a smaller-than-forecast 24% profit fall for the third quarter late on Monday. AmEx shares rose 6% in Frankfurt.
Gloomy outlooks pressured chip maker Texas Instruments and computer mouse maker Logitech.

TI shares fell 5% in Frankfurt. Logitech, which also is listed in Switzerland, slumped 15% there.

After the close, Yahoo and Apple are scheduled to report results, with expectations that Yahoo will announce job cuts.

Quantitative analysts at J.P. Morgan said stock markets appear to be right to disagree with analysts' overly optimistic growth expectations.

In the U.S., they see upside potential of 6% but downside potential of 21% using low-cycle economic estimates.
Elsewhere, the dollar dropped 0.8% to 101.24 yen. Oil futures slipped 18 cents to $74.21 a barrel after gains made on Tuesday.

The FTSE 100 edged up 0.3% in London, while the Nikkei 225 climbed 3.3% in Tokyo.