Wall Street is deep into earnings seasons, with dozens more companies due to report today. Among them: American Airlines parent AMR Corp. (AMR); Internet-auctioneer eBay Inc. (EBAY); pharmaceutical-giant Eli Lilly (LLY); aircraft-maker Boeing Co. (BA); and banking-giants Morgan Stanley (MS), KeyCorp (KEY), Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC) and U.S. Bancorp (USB).

Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO) surprised investors yesterday, reporting after New York stock markets closed that its income more than tripled to $186.1 million, or 13 cents a share, up from $54.3 million, or 4 cents a share in the previous year. Excluding the impact of currency changes and other charges, revenue would have fallen 7 percent.

Although Yahoo's numbers exceeded Wall Street expectations, they fell short of the 7 percent revenue gain announced last week by Google Inc. (GOOG), which reported a 27 percent increase in net income to $1.64 billion, or $5.13 a share. Though shares of Yahoo fell in trading yesterday ahead of its earnings release, the stock shot up in after-hours trading. In pre-market trading Wednesday, the stock was up nearly 5 percent to $17.96 a share.

In addition to earnings, economic data showing the level of U.S. crude oil inventories is due at 10 a.m. ET by the Energy Information Administration, and the Federal Reserve will release its latest survey of economic conditions from around the country from the nation's 12 Federal Reserve districts.

A fresh report late Tuesday showed stores of U.S. crude rose more than expected last week, sending oil futures down to below $79 a barrel, after topping the $80 mark. The American Petroleum Institute said crude stocks rose 3.8 million barrels, far more than the 1.8 million barrel rise forecast in a Reuters poll.

In trading overseas Wednesday, European markets were down across the board, with London's FTSE 100 down nearly 1 percent to 5,198. France's CAC and Germany's DAX indexes were also lower by about a percent, to 3,821 and 5,756, respectively. Asian markets closed lower.