Futures are red

Stock futures are in the red on Tuesday morning as earnings season gets into full swing.

Near 7:55 a.m. ET, Dow futures were down 79 points, S&P 500 futures were down 10 points, and Nasdaq futures were down 27 points.

Stocks basically closed flat on Monday and volumes were lighter than usual. The bond market and several institutions were closed for Columbus Day.

The flat close was amid a sell-off in energy stocks and crude oil, which fell as much as 4% after OPEC said it continued to gush oil last month.

Johnson & Johnson preceded its third-quarter earnings release this morning with news that it is buying back $50 billion of its own shares.

And then the healthcare giant reported earnings that beat expectations, but sales that fell year-on-year, partly owing to the strong dollar.

After the market close, JP Morgan kicks off bank earnings.

In other big news, SABMiller agreed, in principle, to an offer from AB InBev worth £71 billion ($108 billion), or £44 a share ($67), a deal that would merger the world's largest and second-largest brewers.

In economic data, the NFIB small business optimism report index rose 96.1 in September from 95.9. The report showed that optimism "continues to be stagnant."