Morning Briefing: 10 Things You Should Know

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Here are 10 things you should know for Tuesday, Feb. 5:

1. -- U.S. stock futures were suggesting Wall Street would open higher Tuesday after equities suffered their worst one-day declines of the year in the previous session.

European stocks were rising slightly. Asian shares ended mostly lower Tuesday. Japan's Nikkei 225 index fell 1.9% to 11,046.92.

2. -- The economic calendar in the U.S. Tuesday includes the Institute for Supply Management's January non-manufacturing index. The report will be issued at 10 a.m. and economists surveyed by Reuters forecast a reading of 55.2 compared with 55.7 in December.

3. -- U.S. stocks slumped on Monday, dragged down by political uncertainties in Europe and disappointing factory orders here at home.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 102 points, or 0.7%, to 13,908.

The S&P 500 fell 17 points, or 1.2%, to 1,496. The Nasdaq slid 48 points, or 1.5%, to 3,131.

4. -- The U.S. Justice Department sued Standard & Poor's Ratings Services late Monday for improperly giving high ratings to toxic mortgage bonds before the financial crisis.

S&P said in a statement prior to the filing of the lawsuit Monday that it denied any wrongdoing and said the government suit would be "entirely without factual or legal merit."

5. -- BP(BP) , the energy giant, said fourth-quarter earnings fell 79%, largely because of payouts related to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

BP said net profit fell to $1.62 billion in the fourth quarter from $7.69 billion a year earlier. BP recorded a charge of $3.85 billion for its settlement of all federal criminal charges with the U.S. government related to the spill.

The fourth-quarter results topped analysts' expectations.