By John E. Fitzgibbon, Jr.

Before the Bell - Monday , Oct. 22

The market is expected to open mixed to lower this morning. Stock futures had been selling lower in early morning trading, but staged a late pre-opening recovery to push prices near Friday’s close.

Earnings reports, spreading bioterrorism and shaky economic news are expected to dominate the stock market this week.

Wall Street is bracing itself for another massive round of earning reports. This week, more than 1,200 companies will announce quarterly results.

Three Dow Jones component stocks are expected to report third-quarter results today. They are: American Express (NSYE: AXP) is expected to report $0.30 a share, Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing (NYSE: MMM) is expected to report $1.09 a share and, pre-opening, SBC Communications (NYSE: SBC) reported $0.59 a share, missing estimates of $0.60 a share, but up from $0.57 a year ago.

On the economic front, at 10:00 am, September leading economic indicators are expected to decline 0.5 percent.

Global stocks are mixed, but U.S. shares are trading lower in Europe.