Futures Down Slightly; DuPont Rising, Verizon Falling

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average and Standard & Poor’s 500 index are down roughly 0.1% ahead of Tuesday’s opening bell.

Shares of DuPont (DD) are up 1% after its reported a drop in fourth-quarter profits but predicted full-year earnings ahead of consensus estimates. This sort of thing isn’t hopeful for the broader economy:

Chief Executive�Ellen Kullman�noted that “weakness in markets served by performance chemicals and electronics and communications provided significant challenges in 2012,” but added that the company has adjusted its plans to “meet the changing market environment and grow our businesses in a slow-growth world economy.”

Meanwhile, shares of Verizon (VZ) and Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) both fell after the companies reported earnings.

Johnson & Johnson was down about 1% after itsfull-year forecast came in below analysts estimates. Verizon’s stock dropped 1.5% after it reported a bigger loss in the fourth-quarter.

Shares of Boeing (BA) are also on the decline, down about 1% after the weekend brought more grim news for the maker of the 787 Dreamliner — it looks like the planes will be grounded for a while before regulators can figure out why its lithium ion batteries catch fire.

Bloomberg has a good look today at the man at the top of the company, and the challenges he’s facing:

The Dreamliner crisis is the biggest predicament McNerney has faced in his career, which has included running�General Electric Co.�s aircraft engines business and almost five years in charge of�3M Co. Boeing directors who named him CEO in 2005 considered him a prize who would restore the company�s reputation after a series of scandals and get the Dreamliner launched in a disciplined, cost-efficient way.

Now�board members�probably want to know what McNerney knew and when about the Dreamliner�s lithium-ion batteries, said Michael Useem, director of the�Center for Leadership and Change Management�at the�University of Pennsylvania�s Wharton School. While investigators are focusing on the batteries and electrical system, they have yet to zero in on a cause of two incidents.

Dominic Rushe sees the Dreamliner’s problems as representative of the greater issues we face in trying to balance corporate profits with social good:

The Dreamliner’s problems are not just a Boeing issue. They are a lesson in the limits of outsourcing and the all too cosy relationships between regulator and regulated that have caused problems across industries from automotive to food and financial services in recent years.

And finally, the slow death of the Blockbuster video store continues — owner Dish Network (DISH) said this morning it will close 300 locations nationwide and cut 3,000 jobs. That will leave 500 Blockbusters in the US, the same number of stores that Dish closed just in 2012.