NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Stocks plodded toward a lower open Thursday, despite some better than expected economic data, as investors coped with IBM's troubling quarterly report, considered mixed results from a handful of other Dow components and awaited Microsoft's bottom-line news after the close of trading.

This week is one of the busiest of the earnings season, with about one third of companies in the S&P 500 reporting their quarterly results.

At around 8:50 a.m. ET, futures pointed to a sharply lower open for the major indexes. Futures for the tech-laden Nasdaq market were down more than 1 percent.

IBM late Wednesday reported an 11 percent increase in second-quarter net income on revenue that was a little above expectations overall. But investors expressed concern that much of the revenue increase came from currency fluctuations and through acquired properties, while revenue in established businesses was weaker than expected. The No. 1 maker of computer products also gave a guarded outlook for the rest of the year.

IBM (IBM: Research, Estimates) shares were 1.6 percent lower among U.S. stocks trading in Europe.

Nokia (NOK: Research, Estimates) shares fell nearly 10 percent in European trading after the Finnish cell phone maker, the world's largest, posted lower second-quarter income Thursday and said third-quarter results would be hurt by the weak dollar.

Six Dow components were on a lengthy list of major companies scheduled to report quarterly results before the start of trading. Investors have been watching fiscal reports for the quarter very closely for indications of improving economic conditions. Stocks have jumped significantly in the first half of the year on investors' hope for an economic recovery in the second half of the year.

Before the start of trading, Altria Group (MO: Research, Estimates), the tobacco marketer, posted a drop in earnings to $1.20 a share from $1.24 a year earlier, beating analysts' average estimate by a penny.

Coca-Cola (KO: Research, Estimates) reported a profit of 55 cents a share, up from 49 cents a share in the same period last year and coming in a penny above expectations. It has a stated policy of not disclosing its forecast.

Honeywell International (HON: Research, Estimates) posted earnings of 37 cents a share, down from 55 cents in the year-earlier period and in-line with forecasts.

GM (GM: Research, Estimates), the world's largest automaker, posted a net income of $901 million, or $1.58 a share, down from $1.4 billion, or $2.53 a share, excluding special items, last year. But, the earnings came in well above the average forecast of $1.19 a share, according to earnings tracker First Call.

Aerospace manufacturer United Technologies (UTX: Research, Estimates) said it earned $1.26 per share, up from $1.23 a share last year and in-line with analysts' average forecast.

For details of Wednesday's pullback, click above

Industrial equipment maker Caterpillar (CAT: Research, Estimates) posted earnings of $1.15 a share for the second-quarter and raised its 2003 outlook.

After the close, the big name to report is Microsoft (MSFT: Research, Estimates). The company is seen putting up a fiscal fourth-quarter profit of 24 cents a share, an increase from 21 cents a year earlier. Microsoft isn't expected to offer any more rosy forecast than analysts already expect, although it might address talk of a possible special dividend that has been prominent in recent weeks.

Microsoft was down 2.5 percent in European trading.

To go with the earnings reports are a bunch of economic figures. Initial jobless claims for the week ended July 12 fell to 412,000 from 439,000 the prior week . The fall was bigger than the expected decline to 425,000, but still above the 400,000 level that signifies a contracting labor market. Weekly jobless claims have been above 400,000 since mid-February.

A separate report showed housing starts for June rose to 1.8 million, better than the anticipated rise to 1.75 million and up from 1.73 million in May.

Around midday, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia will come out with its July regional economic index, and that's projected to climb to 7 from 4 in June.

The Dow Jones industrial average retreated for the second straight session Wednesday, with a 0.4 percent decline coming on some weak earnings reports and economic concerns. The Nasdaq composite index retreated 0.3 percent (see chart for details).

Asian-Pacific stocks ended lower Thursday, with Tokyo's Nikkei index dropping 2.4 percent. European markets weakened in midday trading. (Check the latest on world markets)

Treasury prices turned lower after the economic reports, sending the 10-year note yield up to 3.96 percent from 3.92 percent late Wednesday. The dollar picked up against the yen and the euro.

Brent oil futures added 16 cents to $28.52 a barrel in London, where gold was unchanged.