Earnings rush fills Wall Street, Yahoo!, Intel in focus

Much of the volatility in the markets has been driven by reactions to earnings and fluctuations in so-called "momentum stocks", the tech and biotech companies that had a superb run in the 2013, but have fallen sharply in recent days.

Coca-Cola and Johnson & Johnson are among the main companies reporting earnings before the bell. Intel and Yahoo! will report after the close.

Investors also await the released of the government’s monthly consumer price index at 08:30 a.m. ET, while at 09:00 a.m. ET; investors will see monthly Treasury data on international capital flows.

U.S. stock futures were edging slightly lower, though the moves were small. Any big surprises during earnings season could switch markets into any direction.

-Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.031% to 16101

-Futures on the S&P 500 Index gained 0.110% to 1826.50

-Futures on the NASDAQ 100 gained 0.158% to 3476.00 . As of 07:11 a.m. ET

U.S. stocks finished higher on Monday after a day of choppy trading. The NASDAQ finished up 0.6%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 closed both shy of 1% of gains. However, all three indices are still down for the year.

European shares were mainly lower Tuesday morning, with sentiment mainly dent by tensions in Ukraine.