By Liz Moyer

-- Stocks took a step back on Monday as dozens of more companies prepared to report earnings and ahead of Friday's closely watched job data.

The U.S. markets kicked off August on a subdued note after notching their best month in July since late 2020. Behind the burst of investor enthusiasm: better than expected earnings despite economic challenges and the belief the Federal Reserve is set to ease off its aggressive interest rate hikes.

Central banks are trying to beat inflation by raising rates, not just the U.S., Europe's central bank has acted as well, and Bank of England is getting set to make its own move later this week.

Factory activity for July was muted in China as well as Europe, and the U.S. data came in slightly lower than June but still better than expected. In China, the weaker factory activity was blamed in part on Covid-19 lockdowns, but signs of a global slowdown continue to emerge.

While the biggest technology companies have already reported earnings, there are still a bunch of companies in the travel, retail, energy and technology sectors waiting to report, and they should provide yet another measure of the state of the economy and shifting consumer habits.

Tuesday also brings data on job openings for last month, with analysts expecting a reading of 11 million.

Here are three things that could affect markets tomorrow:

1. AMD earnings

Advanced Micro Devices Inc (NASDAQ:AMD) is expected to report earnings of $1.03 a share on revenue of $6.5 billion.

2. Caterpillar earnings

Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT), the construction equipment maker, is expected to report earnings of $3.01 a share on revenue of $14.3 billion.

3. PayPal earnings

PayPal Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:PYPL), the digital payments firm, is expected to report earnings of 87 cents a share on revenue of $6.8 billion.