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NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- U.S. stocks were headed for slight gains at Tuesday's open, as investors poured through another round of earnings reports and the latest data on home prices.
Dow Jones industrial average (INDU), S&P 500 (SPX) and Nasdaq (COMP) futures were higher ahead of the opening bell. Futures measure current index values against perceived future performance.
Early Tuesday, Ford Motor (F, Fortune 500) reported its strongest first quarter in 13 years, posting earnings of 61 cents per share on $33.1 billion in revenue. Ford shares rose more than 4% in premarket trading.
3M (MMM, Fortune 500) shares rose 1% and Delta (DAL, Fortune 500)'s stock advanced 2%. Both companies beat estimates on earnings and revenue.
It wasn't all good news. Lexmark International (LVK) shares fell 7.3% and Coca-Cola (KO, Fortune 500) shares lost 2%. Both companies reported disappointing earnings.
Netflix (NFLX) shares tumbled more than 5%, a day after the company reported solid earnings but issued an outlook that fell short of forecasts.
Seattle-based Amazon.com (AMZN, Fortune 500) is on tap to announce quarterly earnings after the closing bell Tuesday.
A half-hour before the opening bell, the latest S&P/Case-Shiller home price index showed home prices fell 3.3% year-over-year in March. The 8th straight monthly decline put home prices near post-crisis lows reached in 2009.
U.S. stocks ended mixed on Monday, helped by a modest boost in technology shares.
Economy: After the start of trading, the Conference Board releases its Consumer Confidence index for April. Economists forecast the index to have edged up to 64.4 from 63.4 in March, showing consumers are slightly more optimistic about the economy.
Meanwhile, this week also brings Wednesday's Federal Reserve press conference and Thursday's report on U.S. economic growth.
"There's some anxiety about Bernanke's press conference tomorrow and the GDP numbers on Thursday," said Scott Brown, chief economist at Raymond James. "Toward the end of the day you may seem a little bit of nervousness in markets."
World markets: European stocks rose in midday trading. Britain's FTSE 100 rose 0.3%, the DAX in Germany added 0.4% and France's CAC 40 advanced about 0.3%.
Asian markets ended lower. The Shanghai Composite lost 0.9%, the Hang Seng in Hong Kong dipped 0.5% and Japan's Nikkei fell 1.2%.
Currencies and commodities: The dollar fell against the euro and the Japanese yen, but rose versus the British pound.
Oil for June delivery slipped 19 cents to $112.09 a barrel.
Gold futures for June delivery fell $4.20 to $1,504.90 an ounce.
Bonds: The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury fell, pushing the yield up to 3.37% from 3.36% late Monday. 
| Overnight Avg Rate | Latest | Change | Last Week |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 yr fixed | 3.80% | 3.80% | |
| 15 yr fixed | 3.09% | 3.11% | |
| 5/1 ARM | 2.65% | 2.69% | |
| 30 yr refi | 3.77% | 3.86% | |
| 15 yr refi | 3.09% | 3.21% |
Today's featured rates:
| Index | Last | Change | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dow | 12,454.83 | -74.92 | -0.60% |
| Nasdaq | 2,837.53 | -1.85 | -0.07% |
| S&P 500 | 1,317.82 | -2.86 | -0.22% |
| Treasuries | 1.74 | -0.01 | -0.80% |
| Company | Price | Change | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bank of America Corp... | 7.15 | 0.01 | 0.14% |
| Sprint Nextel Corp | 2.62 | 0.09 | 3.56% |
| Cisco Systems Inc | 16.33 | -0.06 | -0.37% |
| Chesapeake Energy Co... | 15.81 | 0.23 | 1.48% |
| Ford Motor Co | 10.60 | 0.01 | 0.09% |
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