Stocks set for selloff

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Stock futures turned lower Thursday morning, one day after the Dow Jones industrial average hit a fresh record high, as a mixed bag of earnings reports rattled investors.

Stock futures were down in early trading, indicating a lower open for U.S. markets, after the Dow hit an all-time high Wednesday on upbeat earnings from JPMorgan (Charts, Fortune 500) and others and ahead of earnings from some other key bellwether companies.

Overseas, stocks in Asia fell sharply after investors reacted to China's GDP report, which showed that the economy grew 11.1 percent from a year earlier on strong investment and exports. The news fueled fears that Beijing to might raise interest rates to cool the economy.

Major indexes in Europe were also down in early trading. The dollar was lower against the euro and the yen.

"We've had a market that is trending higher and is in record territory," said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at Jefferies & Co.

But "as we look at today's market we've got some fear that perhaps if China's economy slows, the global economy will slow as well," Hogan said, which coupled with mixed news on the earnings front, is causing futures to selloff.

Thursday morning, Dow component Altria (Charts, Fortune 500) posted earnings and revenues below Wall Street estimates, while Dow component Merck (Charts, Fortune 500) posted quarterly earnings that met Wall Street expectations.

Bank of America (Charts, Fortune 500) said first-quarter profit rose, beating expectations, as did Merrill Lynch (Charts, Fortune 500).

Insurer UnitedHealth (Charts, Fortune 500) posted earnings above expectations but forecast a key medical-cost barometer would come in worse than expected for the year.

No. 4 carrier Continental Airlines Inc. (Charts, Fortune 500) also posted a better-than-expected first-quarter profit. And Southwest Airlines (Charts, Fortune 500) posted higher first-quarter earnings.

After the close Wednesday, eBay (Charts, Fortune 500) reported higher quarterly earnings that topped forecasts and said that 2007 results would be at the top of analysts' forecasts.

In other corporate news, Hewlett-Packard (Charts, Fortune 500) is leading the worldwide personal-computer market ahead of Dell Inc. (Charts, Fortune 500), according to reports by two separate technology research firms.

And Microsoft (Charts, Fortune 500) announced that it will offer an affordable software package to developing nations that purchase and supply PCs directly to students. The software maker also pledged to open 90 new "innovation centers," which offer classes and access to technology, around the world.

Thursday also brings the March index of leading economic indicators and the April Philadelphia Fed index.

Treasury prices rose ahead of the day's economic news, taking the yield on the 10-year note to 4.63 percent, down from 4.65 percent late Wednesday.

Oil prices edged lower in early trading Thursday. U.S. light crude was down 11 cents at $63.02 a barrel in electronic trading.