5 Things You Should Know Before the Stock Market Opens

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- U.S. stocks looked set to open lower Tuesday a day after the S&P 500 gained 0.4% to finish at 1,409.75, its highest close since May 20, 2008.

European shares declined and Asian stock ended with losses because of growth concerns over China. Markets in Japan were closed for a national holiday.

The economic calendar in the U.S. Tuesday features data on chain-store sales at 7 a.m. EDT and housing starts and building permits for February at 8:30 a.m. Ian Shepherdson, chief U.S. economist at High Frequency Economics, is looking for housing starts of 700,000.

Earnings on tap Tuesday include results from

Oracle(ORCL) , the database software giant, which is expected by analysts to earn 56 cents a share in its fiscal third quarter on revenue of $9.02 billion.

Tiffany(TIF) reports earnings before the opening bell, and analysts expect the luxury retailer to earn $1.42 a share in the fourth quarter on revenue of $1.19 billion. Same-store sales are expected to rise 3.9%.