Stocks: Emerging from a month-long funk?

Click chart for in-depth premarket data.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

But U.S. stock futures were pointing higher Tuesday, lending some hope that the final days of April could see markets regain lost ground.

Earnings continue to dominate the agenda, with Sprint (S, Fortune 500) reporting before the opening bell. eBay (EBAY, Fortune 500) and Twitter (TWTR) are among the major companies reporting after the close.

Related: Fear & Greed Index

Shares in Finnish firm Nokia (NOK) surged 8% premarket after the company announced a new CEO and plans to spend billions on dividends and share buybacks. Nokia has just finalized the sale of its handset division to Microsoft (MSFT, Fortune 500), allowing it to focus on its networks business.

Share in BP (BP) were edging up by roughly 1% in London after the latest quarterly results from the oil and gas firm impressed investors.

In economic news, the S&P/Case-Shiller home price index will be published at 9 a.m. ET. The Conference Board will publish its consumer confidence index at 10 a.m. ET.

Related: CNNMoney's Tech30

U.S. stocks ended the day mixed Monday. The Dow and S&P 500 closed slightly higher while the Nasdaq ended the day flat. The Nasdaq has declined by roughly 3% since the start of April.

European markets were mostly rising in morning trading, though the gains were relatively small. Russian stocks rose and the ruble firmed against the dollar as investors shrugged off the latest round of U.S. and EU sanctions imposed this week over the crisis in Ukraine.

The British pound was pushing up, trading at its highest levels since late 2008, as GDP data showed U.K. growth accelerated to 0.8% in the first quarter. Compared with the same period last year, the economy grew by 3.1%.

Asian markets closed with mixed results. The two major indexes in China moved up while the Nikkei in Japan declined by 1%.