Stocks: 4 things to know before the open

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It's Winter Solstice time!

The Northern hemisphere will experience the shortest day of the year along with the longest night.

But the length of the trading day will remain the same.

Here are the four things you need to know before the opening bell rings in New York:

1. Stock market overview: U.S. stock futures are looking a bit weak ahead of the open and most European markets are declining in early trading.

Most Asian markets ended the day with gains. However, the Nikkei 225 index in Japan was under pressure, along with the weakening Mumbia Sensex in India.

U.S. stock markets closed out a positive trading day on Monday. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 0.7%, the S&P 500 jumped 0.8% and the Nasdaq shot up by 0.9%.

But the key indexes are still off by roughly 3% for the month of December.

Related: Fear & Greed Index

2. Market movers -- Toshiba, Kirin: Shares in Toshiba (TOSYY) dropped another 12.3% in Japan on Tuesday to close at the lowest level since the financial crisis.

Toshiba forecast Monday that it would lose $4.5 billion this year as it continues to deal with the aftermath of a massive accounting scandal. Investors immediately hit the sell button.

Shares in Japanese brewer Kirin have also dropped by 5.8% Tuesday after the company warned that it would report an annual loss due to "deteriorating" market conditions in Brazil. The company has never reported an annual loss since going public in 1949.

3. Earnings: There are only a few companies reporting earnings Tuesday.

ConAgra (CAG) is reporting ahead of the open. Nike (NKE) will issue results after the close.

Related: CNNMoney's Tech30

4. Economics: The U.S. Department of Commerce is releasing its updated GDP estimate for the third quarter at 8:30 a.m. ET. The last estimate showed the U.S. economy grew by 2.1%.

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