Earnings abound

• European stocks and U.S. index futures are recovering a bit from their Monday declines as investors waded through a flood of earnings ahead of U.S. housing data later this morning, Apple earnings after the close of trading and a statement on interest rates from the Federal Reserve's Open Market Committee tomorrow. A Dutch auction of 2-year and 25-year bonds went quite well this morning after the government resigned last night over a budget impasse. Still, anyone expecting a big bounce from yesterday's losses is likely to be disappointed.

• The S&P/Case-Shiller home price index for February at 9:00 a.m. ET may help set the tone for the trading day, together with a report on March new home sales at 10:00 a.m. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg expect the latter to show the first increase in sales so far this year, confirming both bullish forecasts that the housing market is stabilizing and bearish forecasts that the housing market is still gasping and flopping like a 70lb catfish dragged from its mudhole by the host of Hillbilly Handfishin'. Tougher lending standards, foreclosures and swelling inventory continue to weigh even as record low mortgage rates and a slowly improving job market threaten to help make things better. We'll also see U.S. consumer confidence at 10:00 a.m.

• Ahead of the U.S. data, Canadian markets will examine data on February retail sales for signs that the domestic economy is doing as well as the Bank of Canada's recent statements seem to imply. Retail sales are expected to rise 0.1 percent in the month; stripping out car sales, the number is seen climbing 0.6 percent.

• Stock investors have a lot of number crunching to do today. Teck Resources appears to have missed the average earnings expectation by a penny while Celestica has beaten. Rogers Communications kicks of the telecom reporting season after the close of trading tonight.

• In the U.S., investors are spoiled for choice. Before we get to Apple at the close, we'll be looking at numbers from AT&T, 3M, U.S. Steel, Baker Hughes, McGraw-Hill, Hershey, Amgen, Coach and Norfolk Southern.

• Watch shares of Netflix this morning. The stock is getting crushed in the pre-market after the company last night reported its first loss since 2005. CP Rail raised its dividend after the close.

Every morning Managing Editor Marty Cej writes a "chase note" to BNN's editorial staff listing the stories and events that will be in the spotlight that day. Click here to have it delivered to your inbox before the trading day begins.