LONDON (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stock futures edged lower on Monday with nerves tested ahead of a bevy of quarterly reports from the financial and technology sector as the lender CIT Group fights for survival. S&P 500 futures slipped three-tenths of a point to 874.00 and Nasdaq 100 futures were off a half point to 1,415.50. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 20 points. U.S. stocks closed last week lower for the fourth consecutive time, with the S&P 500 shedding 1.9%. Worries about the economy as well as technical patterns and weak volumes have combined to pull stocks lower. Ahead of a busy week for both earnings and economic data, there aren't any major U.S. economic releases due for Monday. CSX (CSX 32.24, +0.21, +0.66%) and Novellus Systems (NVLS 18.20, +0.21, +1.17%) report results after the close of trade. Bigger names report Tuesday, with Goldman Sachs (GS 146.25, +4.38, +3.09%) , Johnson & Johnson (JNJ 56.80, -0.13, -0.23%) and Intel (INTC 16.09, +0.05, +0.31%) moving earnings season into full throttle. Goldman climbed 2.8% in pre-market action after Meredith Whitney Advisory Group upped the bank to buy from neutral. CIT Group (CIT 1.22, -0.31, -20.26%) fell 5% after it said it's in talks to join the FDIC's temporary liquidity guarantee program as the lender to small and midsize businesses scrambles to survive. Philips Electronics (PHG 18.90, +0.69, +3.79%) kicked off Europe earnings season by reporting a 94% profit drop, though analysts had forecast a loss. Philips rose nearly 4% in pre-market trade. OSI Pharmaceuticals (OSIP 31.00, +2.56, +9.00%) rose 8% after a Phase III study of Tarceva showed improvement in survival when used after initial chemotherapy in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer. Asia stocks nursed heavy losses, with the Nikkei 225 tumbling 2.6% in Tokyo. But Europe stocks had a more muted performance, with the Stoxx 600 rising 0.2%. Bonds continued their recent advance, with yields on the 10-year U.S. Treasury slipping 2 basis points to 3.28%. Yields move in the opposite direction to prices. The dollar dropped sharply vs. the Japanese yen, while oil futures turned slightly higher.

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