Futures for the Dow Jones industrial average, the Nasdaq 100 and the S&P 500 share indexes are down 0.1-0.2 percent, pointing to a lower start on Wall Street on Tuesday.

At 7.45 a.m. ET, ICSC/Goldman Sachs release chain store sales for the week ended July 18 versus the prior week. In the previous week, sales fell 0.9 percent.

The U.S. Federal Reserve has plenty of tools to push borrowing costs up when the economy recovers, Chairman Ben Bernanke said, as his counterparts in Australia turned more upbeat on the outlook for global growth.

Bernanke gives semi-annual testimony on the economic outlook and monetary policy before the House Financial Services Committee at 10 a.m.

Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago releases Chicago Fed National Activity Index for June at 8.30 a.m. The index read -2.30 in May.

Redbook releases, at 8.55 a.m., its Retail Sales Index of department and chain store sales for July versus June. In the prior period, sales fell 1.7 percent.

Tuesday is one of the busiest days for earnings. BlackRock , the giant asset management firm set to become even more dominant after the acquisition of a key unit of Barclays, is expected to report a fall in profit as declines in assets under management from a year ago take their toll.

Trust bank State Street is expected to report a substantial quarterly loss on a previously announced $3.7 charge to move some assets onto is balance sheet at a loss, but operating results could see a boost from strong asset management and asset servicing results on stronger markets in the quarter.

Apple reports quarterly results. Analysts expect Apple to earn $1.17 a share, excluding items, down from $1.19 a year earlier, according to Reuters Estimates.

Yahoo reports second-quarter earnings. Analysts expect the company to earn 8 cents a share, excluding items, down from 10 cents a year earlier, according to Reuters Estimates.

Expectations are high for the quarterly earnings of Advanced Micro Devices, after larger rival Intel surprised Wall Street with a stronger than expected quarterly report as well as outlook for revenue and margins.

Other companies announcing results include Caterpillar, United Technologies, Coca-Cola, Starbucks , United Health Group, Merck, Gilead Sciences GILD.O>, Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold, DuPont and VF Corp .

The Boston Globe's largest union voted by a nearly 2-to-1 margin on Monday to approve pay cuts and other concessions that would save the 137-year-old paper $10 million and allow The New York Times Co to sell it.

Shares of Boston Scientific Corp rose 6.8 percent after the closing bell on Monday after the company reported results.

Shares of Monsanto Co jumped more than 3 percent to $79.02 after the bell on Monday following news it completed U.S. and Canadian regulatory authorizations for SmartStax Corn.

U.S. stocks jumped on Monday, driving the Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> to an eight-month closing high. The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> shot up 104.21 points, or 1.2 percent, the S&P gained 10.75 points, or 1.1 percent and the Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> rose 22.68 points, or 1.2 percent.

European shares advanced for a seventh straight day on Tuesday, with the FTSEurofirst 300 <.FTEU3> index of top European shares rising 0.4 percent on stronger financials and retail stocks.

(Reporting by Atul Prakash; Editing by Dan Lalor)

Australia Ben Bernanke Investment