need2know: Shares to open down Local stocks are set to open lower as disappointing US corporate results test investors" patience. SPI futures down 22 points at 5258 at 5.39am AEST AUD at 88.43 US cents at 5.39am AEST On Wall St, S&P500 +0.1%, Dow Jones -0.26%, Nasdaq +0.44% In Europe, Eurostoxx -0.06% , FTSE100 -0.12%, CAC +0.03%, DAX -0.1% Spot gold down -0.014% at $US1239.88 an ounce Brent oil up 1.14% at $US107.95 per barrel Iron ore up 0.244 per cent to $123.50 per tonne In Australia, CBA will release its future business index. In New Zealand the latest business manufacturing PMI will be released. Overseas PMI manufacturing and services data will be released by the EU and Germany. Murray Goulburn says it will "commercially assess" the latest move from Saputo after the Canadian dairy giant secured a majority stake in Warrnambool Cheese & Butter. Incitec Pivot lifted to "buy" from"neutral" at Citi. Sydney Airport cut to "reduce" by Morningstar, $3.94 12-month price target. Private equity firm Quadrant is about to begin shopping its $500 million media information business iSentia to fund managers, according to the Street Talk column in The Australian Financial Review. Deutsche Bank made no change to its "sell" recommendation on Cochlear but lifted its 12-month price target to $54.25 from $53.50. The US dollar has slipped, hurt by gains in the $A and sterling, but the greenback's outlook remained upbeat as the Federal Reserve might be a week away from its next round of reduction in asset buying. The dollar index, a measure of the dollar's value against six major currencies, was slightly lower on the day at 81.077. The index has been trading in narrow ranges this week. Investment experts are forecasting a fall in the price of iron ore towards $US100 a tonne this year with further declines possible in 2015. Goldman Sachs in the United States expects the price to drop to $US108 a tonne in 2014 and to $US80 a tonne in 2015. Iron ore is currently trading around $US124 a tonne. Gold prices were steady but the positive start to 2014 looked to be fading - leaving US growth prospects and expectations for further Federal Reserve stimulus reduction to dominate sentiment. Spot gold was flat on the day at $US1241.71 per ounce by 1503 GMT, after falling nearly 1 per cent on Tuesday in New York - its biggest one-day decline this year. US stocks were flat in afternoon trade, as the latest mixed bag of corporate earnings failed to give investors confidence to push equities higher after a strong rally last year. IBM shares lost 3.3 per cent to $US182.24 and were the biggest drag on both the Dow and S&P 500 indexes. The world's biggest technology services company missed revenue expectations for a fourth straight quarter amid weakening demand, particularly in growth markets like China. United Technologies Corp was a bright spot, up 0.9 per cent to $US116.01 to help curb declines on the blue-chip index. The world's largest maker of elevators and air conditioners reported fourth-quarter profit that topped Wall Street estimates, although revenue fell shy of expectations. After the closing bell, earnings are expected from eBay, Netflix, Varian Medical Systems and F5 Networks. A total of 26 S&P 500 companies are scheduled to report earnings on Wednesday in the US. European shares edged up, led by robust results from Dutch technology firm ASML on Wednesday, but concerns about earnings across the broader market kept a lid on the day's advance. Dutch tech firm ASML, the world's leading provider of tools for making computer chips, was the top performer on the FTSEurofirst 300 by far, up 7 per cent, after it beat forecasts for its fourth-quarter results and reiterated its upbeat outlook for first-half sales. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index lost 11.7 points, or 0.2 per cent, to 5319.8 on Wednesday, recovering in late trade from an earlier drop of as much as 0.85 per cent. Resources heavyweight BHP Billiton led the losses after posting quarterly production number that were lower than some expectations.