Wall Street looked to open lower Wednesday as a raft of companies beating earning estimates failed to generate much market momentum.
Earnings season rolls on with a week that will ultimately see 25 percent of the S&P 500 report their quarterly numbers.
- Dow 30: Extra-Hour Quotes
- Pre-Markets/Futures Data
Dow component Boeing contributed to the sour mood by posting a quarterly loss of $2.23 a share that was worse than analyst estimates. The airline also lowered its guidance, and shares fell nearly 2 percent in premarket trading.
Also in earnings, Eli Lilly posted better than expected results as it said sales of prescription drugs beat projections. Shares gained 2.1 percent premarket.
And major banks Wells Fargo and Morgan Stanley both beat analyst estimates but investors were split. Wells Shares fell 1.4 percent premarket while Morgan climbed about 1.6 percent.
Yahoo was highest profile report of Tuesday's after-the-bell numbers, with the company trouncing expectations and also giving an upbeat fourth quarter forecast. SanDisk also beat estimates with its latest report.
Yahoo shares gained 4 percent in premarket trading while Sandisk jumped 8 percent.
In company news, officials CNBC.com-parent General Electric and Comcast said they were continuing discussions about a possible deal but that there was no timetable for completion. GE shares edged lower premarket.
Also in deal news, US Bancorp is considering acquiring FBOP, which ones eight banks and could be put up for sale by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.
And Morgan Stanley may hand over its Crescent Real Estate Equities unit to Barclays Capital, the Journal reported.
This morning's earnings reports include: Continental Airlines, Freeport-McMoRan, Altria, Northrop Grumman and U.S. Bancorp.
Prominent after-the-bell reports include Amgen and eBay .
On the economic calendar, the most prominent report of the day comes from the Federal Reserve, which will release its Beige Book at 2pm ET.
Also on the calendar: the Mortgage Bankers Association reported another drop in home loan applications as interest rates continue to edge higher. Richmond Fed President Jeffrey Lacker speaks on the economy in Richmond, VA at noon, while Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren also has an appearance at 4:30 pm in Chatham, MA.
Possible stock moving news: Dell says PC sales should start to get a boost from Windows 7 starting in mid-2010.
Sun Microsystems is cutting 3,000 jobs ahead of the planned takeover by Oracle . Drugmaker Elan (ELN) is increasing its earnings guidance for the full year. And Geely Automotive's talks to buy Volvo from Ford Motor have reportedly stalled.
- Written by Peter Schacknow, Senior Producer, CNBC Breaking News Desk