US Stock Futures Mixed As Investors Await Goldman Sachs, Johnson & Johnson Earnings; Texas Instruments Shares Down In Pre-Market Trading

US stock futures are mixed this morning, as investors are awaiting earnings from companies such as Goldman Sachs Group Inc GS and Johnson & Johnson JNJ. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 4 points to 12,144.00 and futures on the S&P 500 stock index fell 0.70 point to 1,300.40. Nasdaq 100 futures lost 0.50 point to 2,289.50. On Monday, the Dow Jones industrial average dipped 1.14% to 12,201.59, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index fell 1.10% to 1,305.14 and the Nasdaq Composite Index declined 1.06% to 2,735.38. Standard & Poor's lowered its rating outlook on the US to negative on Monday. Data on March housing starts will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. Harley-Davidson Inc HOG is projected to report its Q1 earnings at $0.53 per share on revenue of $1.05 billion. Johnson & Johnson is estimated to post its Q1 EPS at $1.26 on revenue of $15.83 billion. Goldman Sachs Group Inc is expected to report its Q1 EPS at $0.82 on revenue of $10.18 million. Intel Corp INTC is estimated to post its Q1 earnings at $0.46 per share on revenue of $11.61 billion. Yahoo Inc YHOO is estimated to post its Q1 EPS at $0.16 on revenue of $1.06 billion. International Business Machines Corp IBM is expected to post its Q1 EPS at $2.30 on revenue of $24.02 billion. CSX Corp CSX is projected to post its Q1 earnings at $1.04 per share on revenue of $2.74 billion. Shares of Texas Instruments Inc TXN dropped about 2.2% in pre-market trading after the company reported its Q1 profit at $666 million, or $0.55 per share, up from $658 million, or $0.52 per share, in the year-earlier period. The company's quarterly earnings were impacted by $0.02 per share due to the Japan earthquake. The company's revenue surged to $3.4 billion from $3.2 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.58 per share on revenue $3.4 billion. Asian markets ended lower, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average dropping 1.21%, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 falling 1.44% and China's Shanghai Composite declining 1.92%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell 1.30%. Positive sentiment ruled the European markets today. While STOXX Europe 600 Index has gained 0.61%, London's FTSE 100 Index moved up 0.53%. Against the US dollar, the euro gained 0.2% to $1.4269. Light crude for May delivery dropped $0.96 to $106.16 a barrel on Globex. Read more from Benzinga's Markets.