Stock Futures Slip Ahead of BofA, IBM

Bond prices mostly rose. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, fell to 2.89% from 2.95% late Friday. The yield on the three-month T-bill, considered one of the safest investments, was unchanged at 0.13% from Friday.

Investors will be looking to earnings reports for any information on the direction of the economy. Figures on home sales, manufacturing, retail sales and even unemployment in the past six weeks have signaled that the economy might not be worsening as quickly as it had been only months ago.

Beyond earnings data, Wall Street will examine the Conference Board's index of leading economic indicators. The report, which is designed to forecast economic activity in the next three to six months based on 10 components, is expected to dip 0.2%, according to analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters.

In other market moves, the dollar was mixed against other major currencies, while gold prices rose.

Light, sweet crude fell $2.10 to $48.23 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average rose 0.19%. In afternoon trading, Britain's FTSE 100 fell 1%, Germany's DAX index fell 2.4%, and France's CAC-40 fell 2%.