Wall St set to fall after flurry of poor results

(Reuters) Stock futures pointed to a lower start on Wall Street, tracking a slide in European equities after dismal results from U.S. blue chips American Express (AXP.N), Apple (AAPL.O) and Texas Instruments (TXN.N).

At 0950 GMT (5:50 a.m. EDT) futures for both the Dow Jones industrial average and for the S&P 500 fell 0.8 percent and futures for the Nasdaq slid 1.7 percent.

American Express fell 7.1 percent to $38.00 in extended trade on Monday after the credit card company reported quarterly results that missed Wall Street forecasts. Its rival Capital One Financial (COF.N) also fell after the bell.

Apple shares fell 4.6 percent to $158.60 in after-hours trading after the company projected fourth-quarter earnings below Wall Street targets despite a better-than-expected third-quarter profit.

Texas Instruments and Merck & Co (MRK.N) both fell after the bell after releasing their quarterly results.

Companies due to report results on Tuesday included Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB.O), Biogen Idec (BIIB.O), Caterpillar (CAT.N), Halliburton Co (HAL.N), Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT.N), United Parcel Service Inc (UPS.N), Wachovia Corp (WB.N), Yahoo! Inc (YHOO.O) and E I du Pont de Nemours and Co (DD.N).

Bank examiners from the U.S. Federal Reserve and the Comptroller of the Currency are inspecting the books of mortgage finance companies Fannie Mae (FNM.N) and Freddie Mac (FRE.N), The New York Times reported on Tuesday.

U.S. biotechnology company Genentech Inc (DNA.N) and suitor Roche Holding AG (ROG.VX) will meet on Tuesday to discuss the Swiss company's bid to buy Genentech stock it does not already own, Roche said.

(Reporting by Rebekah Curtis; Editing by David Cowell)

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