MARKET PREVIEW: Earnings galore

A smorgasbord of quarterly reports will keep investors busy Tuesday, as big names such as Microsoft and Intel jam into what looks like the busiest day all earnings season. Asian and European markets fell back, and the Dow is set to open flat to slightly higher.

U.S.

There are at least 68 conference called scheduled to discuss earnings Tuesday. Apple (Nasdaq: APPL), Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT), Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) Realnetworks (Nasdaq: RNWK), Rambus (Nasdaq: RMBS), Veritas (Nasdaq: VRTS) , Cypress Semiconductor (NYSE: CY) and DoubleClick (Nasdaq: DCLK) are just a few of the noteworthy techs reporting Tuesday.

On the economic front, the Consumer Price Index for June is the latest measure investors will eye for hints of inflation. The CPI is expected to have risen 0.4 percent in June, after a gain of 0.1 percent in May.

Expect the following technology stocks to be among Tuesday's most actively traded issues: Advanced Fibre, Copper Mountain, Go2Net, Lattice Semi and Novellus.

Technology stocks moved higher again Monday as the Nasdaq composite rose 29 points to close at 4,274.74. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 8 points to end at 10,804.27.

At the Bell

The Dow Jones industrial average may open about 4 points higher. The Standard & Poor's 500 index for June futures contracts was up 0.5 to 1522 at 7:31 a.m. EST in 24-hour electronic trading.

The Inter@ctive Week @Net Index was up 6 to 548.99.

Asia

Trading in Asia was moving down. The Nikkei 225 fell 1.98 to 16,94, Singapore's Strait Times index fell 0.07 percent to 2,106 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down 2.21 percent to 17,440.

Europe

European markets were also falling. London's FTSE 100 fell 0.66 percent to 6,482. The CAC 40 in Paris slipped 0.90 percent to 6,559 and the DAX in Frankfurt was down 0.24 percent to 7,412 at 6:57 a.m. EST.

Reuters contributed to this report.