Stocks headed for early selloff

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- U.S. stocks were headed for a lower open Tuesday, following a surprise rate hike by the Bank of China, some mixed corporate results and unexpected housing market data.

Dow Jones industrial average (INDU), S&P 500 (SPX) and Nasdaq (COMP) futures were sharply lower ahead of the opening bell. Futures had already been weak, when news that the People's Bank of China raised its benchmark deposit and lending rates added further pressure. Futures measure current index values against perceived future performance.

China's move marked the first rate hike since December 2007, and could help slow the country's rapid growth. With the rate increase, the People's Bank of China's one-year lending rate now sits at a lofty 5.56%.

"The Chinese are basically telling the rest of the world that they're going to slow down their economy," said Mark McCormick, currency strategist for Brown Brothers Harriman. "It's kind of nerve wracking for the global economy because China has been the key driver of world growth. This was clearly a major surprise."

Wall Street ended sharply higher Monday, after Citigroup reported upbeat financial results and a report showed improvements in the housing sector.

Companies: Ahead of the opening bell, Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500) reported a third-quarter net loss of $7.3 billion, citing the recently passed financial reform law for a one-time charge of $10.4 billion in its credit and debit card unit.

Goldman Sachs (GS, Fortune 500) reported a 40% plunge in profit to $1.9 billion for the third quarter, citing "challenging" market conditions. But it still managed to beat Wall Street's lowered estimates. The financial firm reported revenue of $8.9 billion, a mild increase from the year-earlier quarter.

Johnson and Johnson (JNJ, Fortune 500) reported earnings per share of $1.23 on revenue of $14.98 billion. The company beat on profit but missed on sales.

J&J reported a dip in sales due to drug recall impact, saying it has made "considerable progress" to resolve the problem. On Monday, J&J subsidiary McNeil Consumer Healthcare recalled 127,728 bottles of Tylenol 8-hour caplets sold in the United States and Puerto Rico due to complaints of a musty or moldy odor.

After Monday's close, Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500) and IBM (IBM, Fortune 500) also posted results that topped analysts' expectations. But investors weren't satisfied, and shares of both companies fell in after-hours trading.

Yahoo (YHOO, Fortune 500) is on the docket to report its results after the closing bell Tuesday. Analysts say the company needs a stellar report to regain investor confidence.

Economy: A reading on September housing starts blew away expectations, but building permits lagged behind.

The U.S. Census Bureau reported that housing starts edged up in September to an annual rate of 610,000, from the revised August rate of 608,000.

Economists were expecting the report to show new home construction fell in September, with housing starts -- or the number of new homes being built -- falling to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 579,000. This expectation was based on the previously-reported rate of 598,000 in August.

Building permits rose more than 5% to the adjusted annual rate of 539,000 in September. They still fell short of the 565,000 expected.

World markets: European shares were lackluster, with the FTSE 100 in Britain sliding 0.3%. The CAC 40 in France and Germany's DAX both slipped about 0.2%.

In Asia, markets were more upbeat, but they closed ahead of China's rate hike. The Shanghai Composite rallied 1.6%, the Hang Seng in Hong Kong jumped 1.3% and the Nikkei in Japan added 0.4%.

Commodities and Currencies: The dollar rose against the British pound, the Japanese yen, and the Euro.

Gold futures for December delivery plunged $17.90 to $1,354.20 an ounce.

Crude oil for November delivery fell $1.07 to $82.01 a barrel.

Bonds: The price fell on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury, pushing the yield up to 2.56% from 2.51% late Monday.