Weak open seen for stocks

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Stocks were headed for a lower open Wednesday, as investors remained nervous about the corporate results being reported.

The S&P 500, Nasdaq-100 and Dow Jones industrial average futures were slightly lower.

Futures measure current index values against their perceived future performance and offer an indication of how markets may open when trading begins.

Stocks fell Tuesday, dragged lower by mixed earnings reports, including disappointing results from DuPont (DD, Fortune 500) and Coca-Cola (KO, Fortune 500), and a weak reading on the housing market. But the Dow still managed to hold above the 10,000 level.

David Jones, chief market strategist at IG Markets, said that the Dow, having reached 10,000, will probably keep "flipping around" at that level for the immediate future.

"I think markets are obviously always a little bit nervous when we've gained as much as we have in the last few months," said Jones. "But so far, the response to the earnings has been very positive, so investors seem to think that the recovery that started in the spring is still sustainable."

Earnings: Financial services firms Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo beat analysts' forecasts with their pre-market reports on third-quarter earnings, but Boeing missed.

Morgan Stanley (MS, Fortune 500) announced third-quarter revenue of $8.7 billion and earnings of 38 cents per share. Analysts had forecast revenue of $7 billion and earnings of 27 cents per share, according to a consensus of analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters. The stock edged up in pre-market trading.

Wells Fargo (WFC, Fortune 500) reported third quarter revenue of $22.5 billion and earnings of 56 cents per share. Analysts had expected revenue of $21.6 billion and earnings of 37 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters. The stock edged up in pre-market trading.

Boeing (BA, Fortune 500) fell short of expectations. The aircraft manufacturer reported revenue of $16.7 billion, with a loss of $2.23 per share. That's compared to the Thomson Reuters forecast of $17.2 billion in revenue with a loss of $2.12 per share. Boeing said most of the previously announced loss stemmed from research and development costs for the first three 787 flight-test airplanes. The stock slipped in pre-market trading.

Yahoo (YHOO, Fortune 500) posted higher quarterly earnings late Tuesday that beat forecasts on weaker revenue that also topped estimates. Yahoo's third-quarter profit tripled from last year.

Companies: Other stocks to watch include Sun Microsystems (SUN, Fortune 500), which said late Tuesday that it was cutting 3,000 jobs over the next year, because of delays in its pending acquisition by Oracle (ORCL, Fortune 500).

Economy: A report on U.S. state unemployment rates comes out at 10 a.m. ET. That's followed by the Fed's Beige Book of economic conditions, which is due out at 2 p.m. ET.

World markets: Stocks in Asia were lackluster, with major indexes posting mild losses for the session. The mood was also downbeat in Europe, where shares edged lower in midday trading.

Money and oil: The dollar was mixed versus major international currencies, edging up against the euro and the yen but slipping versus the British pound.

The price of oil fell $1.16 to $77.96 a barrel, having edged off its peak of $80-plus on Tuesday.