US stock index futures dipped late on Sunday ahead of a week when more than 140 S&P 500 companies, including Apple Inc, will report earnings.

At 9:07 pm., S&P 500 e-minis were down 0.18 per cent, Dow Jones e-minis were off 0.14 per cent and Nasdaq e-minis were down 0.33 per cent.

Disappointing quarterly earnings from tech firms Facebook Inc, Intel Corp and Twitter Inc last week hit the three major US indexes, but the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones ended firmer for the week.