U.S. Stocks Ease Early

Weighing on tech shares, meanwhile, was Apple (AAPL Quote). The maker of Macs and iPhones comfortably bested analyst estimates last quarter with a 36% jump in profit, but also guided under earnings estimates for the current quarter. Shares were off 1.9%.

Amazon.com (AMZN Quote), another tech titan, was slumping 4.1% after easing its 2008 operating-earnings forecast and reporting an essentially flat operating margin in the first quarter. Analysts were hoping for some improvement. The Internet retailer also reported better-than-expected earnings of $143 million on soaring sales of $4.13 billion.

Similarly, Motorola (MOT Quote) surrendered 4% after its quarterly loss and weak second-quarter projection.

Outside of tech, Starbucks (SBUX Quote) was also losing ground on its soft guidance. The coffee seller said tough economic conditions should keep its customer-traffic numbers down and force a first-quarter profit drop to 15 cents a share from 19 cents last year. That's well under the consensus estimate. Shares were plunging 11%.

Scheduled to report after the market close are Dow components Microsoft (MSFT Quote) and American Express (AXP Quote).

Among commodities, crude oil was losing 80 cents to $117.50 a barrel, and gold futures gave up $5.10 at $903.90 an ounce. The U.S. dollar climbed 0.9% against the euro at $1.5746 while weakening fractionally against the yen.

Treasury prices were little changed recently. The 10-year note was up 1/32 in price to yield 3.73%, and the 30-year bond was flat in price, yielding 4.49%.

Markets overseas were mostly in retreat. The Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong jumped 1.6% overnight at 25.681, but Tokyo's Nikkei 225 lost 0.3%. In Europe, London's FTSE 100 dropped 1.7%, Germany's Xetra Dax shed 0.7%, and the Paris Cac fell 1.4%.