NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - The first earnings miss by search engine Google were poised to send U.S. stocks, particularly the tech-laden Nasdaq, sharply lower at Wednesday's open.

U.S. stock futures were down, with the Nasdaq contract down 1 percent.

Google (Research), which has become a bellwether for the growing profitability of the Internet, reportedly sharply higher earnings late Tuesday, but it badly missed forecasts for nearly a doubling in quarterly profit. In its previous quarters as a public company, Google had easily topped forecasts.

Shares of Google fell $48.98, or 11.3 percent, to $383.68 in Inet pre-market trading. Shares were down almost 20 percent in after-market trading at one point Tuesday evening.

"Obviously this is a stock that's priced to perfection and it's going to take some punishment today," said Art Hogan, chief market analyst at Jefferies & Co.. "And I think there are enough companies in the Nasdaq which are a reflection of the expectations for Internet ad spending to make the (broad market) reaction probably warranted. But as far as S&P being off, it's probably an overreaction."

Time Warner (Research), the world's largest media conglomerate, reported improved fourth quarter earnings that topped forecasts. But its shares slipped 8 cents to $17.45 in pre-market trading because of Google's report. Google agreed to buy 5 percent of Time Warner's America Online unit in December and form an alliance with AOL to sell Internet ads. CNNMoney.com is a unit of Time Warner.

Oil prices were little changed after President Bush said the U.S. must kick its "addiction" to oil during hisState of the Union address Tuesday evening, when he pledged to back new technology that can cut 75 percent of oil imports from the Middle East by 2025. Investors will also get to see the latest reading on U.S. fuel inventories at 10:30 a.m. ET.

The March light crude futures contract for NYMEX fell 5 cents to $67.87 a barrel in electronic trading, while the March contract for Brent crude was unchanged at $65.99.

Major markets in Asia closed lower Wednesday, as stocks were hit by the Google results and the statement from the Federal Reserve Tuesday afternoon that more rate hikes may be necessary. But major European markets were slightly higher in early trading.

Treasury prices were slightly lower, raising the yield on the benchmark 10-year note to 4.53 percent from 4.51 percent late Tuesday. The dollar was down against the euro but up against the yen.

Automakers are due to report U.S. sales for January. General Motors (Research) and Ford Motor (Research) are expected to lose market share again in the latest report.

For a more detailed look at the markets before the open, click here.