LONDON (ShareCast) - (ShareCast News) - US equities declined early on Tuesday, as investors braced themselves for high-profile earnings reports.
Just 1500 BST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 125 points to 17,975.24, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq were two and seven points lower respectively.

The Nasdaq 100 ended at an all-time closing high on Monday, as Wall Street's main indices edged higher in the wake of strong earnings and renewed optimism surrounding the situation in Greece.

Earnings in focus

In what is an extremely quiet session on the economic data front, investors will focus on a number of corporate heavyweight earnings, with Apple, Microsoft, Yahoo! and GoPro reporting after the closing bell.

The iPhone-maker is expected to post third quarter earnings per share of $1.81, up 41.4% from the previous quarter.

"Astronomical expectations are, as always, the biggest threat to Apple's price," said Spreadex's financial analyst Connor Campbell.

"However, the company expertly navigated [the threat] with its stellar first and second quarter announcements.

"The stock is lingering only a few dollars away from its all-time highs, and could easily surpass that record if Apple announces the kind of dazzling figures it is more than capable of."

Among the companies that reported ahead of the opening bell, Harley-Davidson rose 3.39% after its second quarter earnings beat expectations, although sales and revenue declined, while Verizon declined 2.78% after its second quarter revenue fell short of Wall Street's estimates.

United Technologies slid 6.26% in after sluggish growth in China and strong currency headwinds will weigh on its full-year profit.

The group reported a 5% year-on-year decline in second quarter sales and added it will accelerate its cost-cutting process.



Gold continues to slide

Elsewhere, the dollar was largely flat against the yen and the pound but losing 0.37% against the yen, while gold futures lost further ground after Monday's decline, falling 0.27% to $1,103.80.

Oil prices staged a solid rebound, with West Texas Intermediate climbing 1.4% to $51.18 a barrel, while Brent rose 0.96% to $57.20 a barrel.

Shares in Asia recovered on Tuesday after a negative start to the week due to a weaker commodities market, while European stocks were little changed following nine days of gains, as investors shifted their focus back to fundamentals amid a deluge of corporate earnings.

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