09:01 AM EDT, 04/30/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Traders eyed the markets with caution Tuesday despite some promising earnings reports from corporate giants ahead of monthly consumer confidence and manufacturing data to be released shortly after the opening bell.

Markets were slightly lower ahead of trading. Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 futures were down less than 0.1%, while Nasdaq futures shed 0.2%. All eyes remain on the Federal Reserve, poised to release its decision on interest rates Wednesday afternoon.

HSBC ( HSBC ) shares were up more than 4% in the premarket after the global bank beat both analyst expectations and topped last year's Q1 earnings and revenue. Eli Lilly ( LLY ) stock jumped more than 7% after beating its revenue forecast.

Coca Cola (KO) and McDonald's (MCD) were among the American companies to report pre-bell earnings Tuesday. Meanwhile, Amazon ( AMZN ) and Advanced Microdevices (AMD) were scheduled to release results later in the day.

Oil prices were higher, with global benchmark North Sea Brent crude up 0.31% and US West Texas Intermediate up 0.61%.

Before the opening bell, The Employment Cost Index, a quarterly measure of inflation, showed salaries for workers rising 1.2% in Q1, higher than the 0.9% expected by analysts. The Case-Shiller and FHFA home price indexes for February are expected to advance.

The April Consumer Confidence index is expected to edge downward to 104 from 104.7 in March and 104.8 in February. Meanwhile, The Chicago Purchasing Managers' Index is forecast to rise to 45 in April after a disappointing 41.4 in March.

Among pre-market top movers was electrical vehicle maker Mullen Automotive ( MULN ) on news that California was offering buyers of its trucks big rebates. Marin Software ( MRIN ) , up over 14% on a reported $150 million private equity investment, and Moolec Science ( MLEC ) , up 11% on news that it had been granted a new patent for safflower molecular farming technology.

Among the losers was Medifast ( MED ) , which declined more than 35% on disappointing revenue numbers, and Coursera ( COUR ) , which was down more than 15% after also falling short of revenue expectations and being slapped with negative feedback on its share prices by Cantor Fitzgerald and Goldman Sachs.

Other pre-bell decliners were Lichen China (LICN), which fell 20% on possible profit-taking after big Monday gains, and Chegg ( CHGG ) , which declined 17% after tepid Q1 results.