Earnings from several retailers are a highlight Tuesday, but traders will keep their focus on anything to do with the Fed.

The CEOs of Apple and J.P. Morgan are both in the hot seat for different reasons Tuesday morning. J.P. Morgan holds its shareholder meeting in Tampa at 10 a.m., and the big focus will be on whether investors vote to allow Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon to retain both roles.

(Read More: Splitting Dimon's Roles 'Misguided': Ex-Director)

Apple CEO Tim Cook, meanwhile, appears before a Senate panel at 9:30 a.m. on corporate tax avoidance. The Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations said Apple is using tax havens in Ireland to avoid taxes, but Apple says the tax law should be changed and it is doing nothing wrong.

As for earnings, Home Depot, Saks, TJX, Best Buy, Dick's Sporting Goods and Autozone all report ahead of the opening bell. Retailers will be watched for what impact cold spring weather has had on margins and what managements have to say about their outlook , and the consumer.

Consumer-related data has been a relative bright spot, holding up better than manufacturing data recently. Retail sales for April, up a surprise 0.1 percent, were one of the only positives in a recent string of disappointing economic reports. The other piece of encouraging data recently was consumer confidence, reported at a six-year high Friday.

Stocks slipped Monday, and the focus is now on whether the Dow can pull off a Tuesday gain, giving it a record 19 positive Tuesdays in a row, a pattern traders are watching. The Dow was off 19 at 15,334, and the S&P was off 1 at 1666. The indices both moved to record highs during the trading day, and the Russell 2000 broke 1000 for the first time. A move lower in the dollar helped brake the selling in gold and silver, which both closed higher Monday.

Comments from Chicago Fed President Charles Evans triggered reflex selling in stocks Monday, when he spoke about the economy improving and possibly achieving escape velocity next year. Some traders took that to mean the dovish official would support paring back on Fed bond purchases. But following those remarks, he reiterated that he would like to see several months of strong payroll data before the Fed begins to cut back on its $85 billion a month in Treasury and mortgage purchases.

Last week, several hawkish Fed officials said they thought the Fed should start tapering back purchases soon. So, the markets are now waiting to see what Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke has to say about the economy and policy when he speaks before the Congressional Joint Economic Committee Wednesday.

There are two Fed speakers Tuesday. St. Louis Fed President James Bullard speaks at 11:30 a.m. ET at a conference in Germany on monetary and financial stability, and New York Fed President William Dudley is participating in a panel discussion at the Japan Society in New York at 1 p.m.

"We're waiting to see what the Fed has to say. There's no data of note," said Art Hogan of Lazard Capital Markets.

Check out which companies are making headlines after the bell Monday:

Urban Outfitters - The apparel retailer posted earnings of 32 cents a share on revenue of $648 million. Analysts expected the company to post earnings of 29 cents a share on sales of $656 million. Shares dipped in extended-hours trading.

(Read More: Stocks End Lower Amid Fed Taper Talk)

TiVo - The DVR company posted a loss of 9 cents a share, topping expectations for a loss of 14 cents a share, on revenue of $62 million, matching expectations. In addition, the company handed in a current-quarter sales guidance that edged past expectations. Shares edged higher in extended-hours in after-hours trading.

The stock market and the U.S. dollar have are moving higher in tandem again, which analysts say could be a positive for U.S.-centric companies.

"[The rising dollar] is one of the reasons this market is more a U.S.-focused one," said Quincy Krosby, market strategist at Prudential Financial. "Economic data in the U.S. have gained traction against other economies and with the strengthening dollar, it's even more of a reason to be U.S. focused."

Since the beginning of May, the dollar index has gained more than 2.5 percent. The dollar has been rising as a number of central banks around the world increased their easing, at the same time there is talk the Fed could be getting ready to scale back on some of its bond buying. The most dramatic example is the Bank of Japan, which doubled its own bond buying program.

Financials are one of the best performing sectors in the S&P 500 this year, and some Wall Street strategists say the banks will continue to outperform, given improving loan fundamentals, attractive valuations and rising dividends.

So far this year, financials have gained 21 percent, which is the second best performing sector. Last week, the financials climbed the most of any sectors, rising 3.7 percent, and they were one of the best performing sectors Monday, making gains while most sectors declined.

Jonathan Golub of UBS, in a recent research note, argued that this sector will continue to outperform. For one, the sector boasts improving loan fundamentals including rising volumes and a steeper yield curve. Secondly, the sector is attractively valued: financials trade at 1.24 times book value, which is a discount to their historical average of 1.86.

Take a look at some of Monday's midday movers:

Caterpillar shares were up even after the manufacturer of construction equipment said global sales were down 9 percent in April. Meanwhile, Caterpillar said weakness in its North American and Asia/Pacific markets were offset in part by strength in Latin America.

Red Hat was down after a downgrade to "market perform" from "outperform" at BMO Capital, with the price target at $54 per share.

Silver staged a dramatic comeback Monday, after a day of volatile trading sent the metal to a 2-1/2 year low before bouncing back late in the session.

Silver's steep slide started late Sunday, following the longest losing streak in the gold market since the 2008 financial crisis. The metal slumped for the same reason that gold has lost its luster, including a stronger dollar and low inflation, traders and analysts say.

Traders say short-covering and bargain hunting, helped by Monday's weaker dollar, were factors turning steep losses in the metals into gains at around midday. Gold also turned around, snapping a 7-session losing streak.

The big event this week is Wednesday, when U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke testifies in front of the Joint Economic Committee, while the Fed releases the FOMC minutes to the April 30 and May 1 meeting.

The markets were all aflutter last week as John Williams from the San Francisco Fed (a dove) indicated he wanted to taper off purchases sooner rather than later.

But Bernanke is likely to reiterate exactly what he said at the May 1 meeting: that they are "prepared to increase or reduce" their bond purchases as the labor markets or inflation outlook changes.

(Read more: Bulls Will Be Driving Market, but Bernanke Is Steering)

Check out which companies are making headlines before the bell on Monday:

Campbell Soup — The food maker reported fiscal third quarter profit of 62 cents per share, excluding certain items, six cents above estimates, with revenues also beating consensus. It also raised its full year forecast. Campbell CEO Denise Morrison said the company was generally pleased with the quarter, though she expressed disappointment with the performance of certain units such as beverages.

Yahoo — Sources tell CNBC the company's board has approved a deal to buy blogging service Tumblr for $1.1 billion. Yahoo would not immediately confirm the deal, saying it does not comment on rumors or speculation, but does have a media event scheduled for later today.

Bullish momentum should drive stocks higher in the week ahead as markets watch to see if Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke weighs in on whether the economy is strong enough to justify paring back on Fed bond buying any time soon.

The debate about whether and when the Fed should start trimming back on its bond-buying program was underway in markets this past week, and was further fueled by the comments of Fed hawks. It also has made the Fed chairman's economic testimony before the Congressional Joint Economic Committee Wednesday even more important.

"He's got to be a bit of a two-handed economist," said Pimco strategist Tony Crescenzi. "On the one hand, he shows the Fed is concerned about downside risk to growth, and in so doing keeps markets believing the Fed will remain accommodative for a long time, but on the other hand, he has to seem somewhat optimistic about the future because the decision point is getting closer to a taper. Given the rising asset prices and improving employment…he'll say there's been progress."

Take a look at some of Friday's midday movers:

Tableau Software soared after its IPO. The data software company sold 8.2 million shares at $31 per share raising $254 million.

Visa hit a historic high after a Nomura analyst said the global payments firm justified a P/E multiple of 25-times earnings and raised his price target on the firm to $220 from $187 per share.