Wall Street worries over earnings, jobs
Alcoa reports 54% plunge in income, AMD laying off workers; 1% decline expected for pending home sales.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Futures were down Tuesday morning, following dismal earnings from the aluminum giant Alcoa, and ahead of a report that's expected to show a decline in pending home sales.
Futures for the Dow and Nasdaq were trading down at 7:30 a.m., and Asian and European stocks were also trading lower. Oil was holding steady at $109 a barrel in recent trading on Asian markets.
Stumbling out of the gate. Earnings got off to a bad start Monday. Alcoa (AA, Fortune 500), the first company to report first-quarter earnings, announced a 54% plunge in net income to $303 million, or 37 cents a share.
Also, semiconductor maker Advanced Micro Devices (AMD, Fortune 500) said on Monday that it is laying off 10% of its workforce, or about 1,680 employees.
No major earnings announcements are expected for Tuesday. Instead, investors have an economic report to focus on, which could spell more bad news for the housing market. The February report for pending home sales comes at 10 a.m. ET, and a decline of 1% is expected.
Adding to the economic gloom, Merrill Lynch (MER, Fortune 500) Chief Executive John Thain said in Tokyo on Tuesday that his bank does not plan to raise more capital and will keep shrinking its balance sheet because of the credit crunch, according to Reuters.
Meanwhile, Washington Mutual (WM, Fortune 500) is working on a deal for an equity injection from by a group of investors led by the private equity firm TPG that could reach $7 billion, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The Journal also reported that C. Michael Armstrong, former CEO of AT&T (ATT), is expected to step down as chair of Citigroup's audit and risk committee, because investors blame him for failing to oversee the bank's risk-management process.
Investors are also awaiting the minutes from the most recent Federal Open Market Committee meeting, which are expected Tuesday afternoon. 
