Wall Street catches its breath

LONDON (CNNMoney.com) -- U.S. stocks looked set to struggle early Tuesday as investors caught their breath after pushing the Dow to a fresh record and ahead of a report on the housing sector.

At 4:56 a.m. ET, futures were mixed and pointing to a weak open for Wall Street.

The blue-chip Dow Jones industrial average soared to a record closing high of 14,087.55 on Monday, despite an earnings warning from Citigroup.

Stocks have been on a run recently on hopes that the worst of the credit crunch is over and on expectations for the Federal Reserve to keep cutting interest rates. That optimism has helped offset some weaker economic readings and earnings.

On tap for Tuesday is the August pending home sales report, due at 10 a.m. ET.

In major corporate news, Palm (Charts) reported a loss for its first quarter late on Monday. The maker of the Treo smart-phone said results were pressured by growing competition from rivals like Apple (Charts, Fortune 500).

Among other stocks to watch, Yahoo! (Charts, Fortune 500) unveiled significant upgrades to its search engine on Tuesday, the latest effort in the company's battle with industry leader Google (Charts, Fortune 500).

In global trade, Asian markets rallied on Wall Street's gains. Major European markets also climbed in early trading.