NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Stocks looked to a higher open Tuesday as investors cheered better-than-expected earnings from Texas Instruments and UPS, and awaited a quarterly report from Amazon.com after the close of trading.

Just before 8:30 a.m. ET, futures pointed to a higher open for the markets, which were solidly lower Monday.

Texas Instruments (TXN: Research, Estimates) took center stage ahead of the open. After the close Monday, the communications chip maker reported earnings of 7 cents a share, higher than the 6 cents expected by analysts surveyed by First Call and above the 6 cents reported a year earlier. Sales rose 8 percent, in line with lowered forecasts.

Texas Instruments' shares rose 3 percent in after-hours trading Monday.

Lehman Brothers raised its rating on the semiconductor capital equipment industry to "positive" from "neutral" ahead of the opening bell, which helped lift shares of Applied Materials (AMAT: Research, Estimates) in the pre-market as well as other chip-related issues.

Meanwhile, United Parcel Service (UPS: Research, Estimates), the package deliverer whose results are a bellwether for the nation's economists, posted earning of 61 cents a share, up from 54 cents in the year-earlier period and beating analysts' average forecast by 2 cents a share.

For details of Monday's downturn, click above

Colgate-Palmolive (CL: Research, Estimates), maker of Colgate toothpaste and Irish Spring soap, posted a profit of 62 cents a share, up from 55 cents in the year-earlier period and in line with Wall Street's average estimate.

Also due with June quarter results before the start of trading Tuesday are brokerage Charles Schwab (SCH: Research, Estimates) and film maker Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM: Research, Estimates).

After the close, online retailer Amazon.com (AMZN: Research, Estimates) and computer hardware maker Sun Microsystems (SUNW: Research, Estimates) are scheduled to report their results.

Investors have been watching the second-quarter reports closely for indications of what might happen in the second half of the year. Stocks rallied in the first half of 2003 on hope that an economic recovery would take a strong hold in the third and fourth quarters. But, some analysts contend that expectations are being set fairly high for the remainder of the year, which could be a set-up for disappointment.

"Positive surprises are running at the highest level since first quarter 2000. However, second half consensus estimates still look demanding," a CSFB note said.

More than a third of the companies reporting so far have beat Wall Street expectations. A third of companies already had reported as of Friday, and another third will have posted results by the close of this week.

The Dow Jones industrial average lost 1 percent Monday after weak results from drugmaker Merck (MRK: Research, Estimates). The Nasdaq composite index slipped 1.6 percent on some disappointments in the tech sector (see chart for details).

Asian-Pacific stocks ended mixed Tuesday, with Tokyo's Nikkei index down 0.4 percent. European markets were mixed just after midday. (Check the latest on world markets)

Treasury prices rallied in early trading following Monday's big selloff, sending the 10-year note yield down to 4.14 percent from 4.21 percent late Monday. The dollar gained against the yen, but was lower versus the euro.

Brent oil futures pulled back 24 cents to $28.45 a barrel in London, where gold hit its highest level in three weeks.