Stocks: Quiet ahead of busy earnings week

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Trading could be quiet Monday, as investors wait for the latest round of corporate earnings to begin in earnest.

Goldman Sachs (GS) and JPMorgan (JPM) are due to report their results Wednesday, while Intel (INTC), Bank of America (BAC) and General Electric (GE) are up later in the week.

U.S. stock futures were mostly flat ahead of Monday's opening bell.

Shares of Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) rose 2% after news that it dethroned Lenovo (LNVGF), retaking its position as the top maker of personal computers.

Apple (AAPL) sank more than 3% after reports surfaced that the company cut orders for iPhone 5 components due to weak demand.

United Parcel Service Inc (UPS) announced it is scrapping plans for a $6.8 billion merger with TNT Express NV (TNTEY), a smaller Dutch delivery company. UPS blamed the European Commission for ruining the deal, saying the EC's antitrust regulator wouldn't allow it.

At 4 p.m. ET, Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke is scheduled to give a speech and take public questions at the University of Michigan.

U.S. stocks finished little changed Friday, a day after the S&P 500 closed at a 5-year high, as investors digested earnings from Wells Fargo (WFC) and a fresh batch of economic data.

S&P 500 companies are expected to report overall earnings growth of 2.4% for the last three months of 2012, according to FactSet Research. That's better than the 1% decline in the third quarter. But excluding the financial sector, earnings growth for S&P 500 companies is expected to be just 0.2%.

Fear & Greed Index

European markets were slightly higher in morning trading, and Asian markets ended the session higher.

The Shanghai Composite added 3.1% after a government official hinted that foreign investment in China's capital markets could be allowed to expand dramatically. Meanwhile, the Hang Seng added 0.6% while Japan's Nikkei was closed for a holiday.

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