Futures are lower in early morning, indicting to a similar start for stocks, a day after the Walt Disney Co. (NYSE:DIS) reported magical earnings but ahead of retailers reporting January sales.

Economic data is slim today with weekly jobless claims due out at 8:30 a.m. Eastern. At 10:00 a.m., wholesale inventories in December will be released with estimate of a 0.6% growth.

In Europe, the Central Bank will likely hold interest rates steady today after it raised rates in December, hoping the latest increase can begin affecting inflation. It is also, however, expected to prepare the markets for another move in March. Stock markets in Europe are generally lower.

Despite declining inventories in the U.S. and OPEC member countries complying with the supply cuts, oil couldn't get past the $60 a barrel mark it tried to push through the past few days. This caused oil to slip today and settle below $58 a barrel.

In corporate news:

Earnings:
Tribune Co. (NYSE:TRB) reported a fourth-quarter profit surge of 81%. Excluding items, the company earned 68 cents per share in the latest period. Analysts were expecting a profit of 61 cents per share, according to Thomson Financial. Quarterly revenue grew 5.4% to $1.47 billion, beating Wall Street's estimate of $1.43 billion.

PepsiCo, Inc. (NYSE:PEP) reported that fourth-quarter profit rose 61%. Profit grew to $1.78 billion, or $1.06 per share on revenue of $10.38 billion, a 2.8% growth. Excluding one-time charges earnings per share were 72 cents. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial had forecast earnings of 72 cents per share on revenue of $10.38 billion.

Toll Brothers Inc. (NYSE:TOL) reported preliminary first-quarter earnings, saying home building revenue declining 19% to about $1.09 billion compared to prior-year results.

January Retail Sales:
Costco Wholesale Corp. (NASDAQ:COST) reported a 2% rise in January sales at its stores open at least a year. Analysts, on average, had expected the company to post a same-store sales increase of 3.2%.

Limited Brands Inc. (NYSE:LTD) reported that same-store sales rose 11% in January, topping analysts' expectations for a 7.8 percent increase.

Other corporate news:
HSBC Holdings (NYSE:HBC) shares are down over 6% in pre-market after Europe's largest bank by market capitalization, said it is raising its provisions for bad loans by 20% higher than the market had expected.

EMC Corp. (NYSE:EMC) shares up over 6.5% in pre-market after it said yesterday it plans to sell a 10% stake of its VMware unit in an initial public offering that could become one of the hottest tech IPOs of the year.