Although futures were nosing into positive territory in premarket trading this morning, equities opened slightly lower and continued falling; now all three major indexes are down well over 1% in early afternoon trading.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was off 1.2%, while both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq were down 1.3%. Strategists have been sanguine about equities’ losses in the past four days, as stocks have had a significant run recent months and seemed poised for a breather.

Still, earnings season, which will officially begin with Alcoa (AA) after the closing bell may provide more downward pressure: Overall, first-quarter earnings for S&P 500 companies are expected to show the slowest year-over-year growth since the financial crisis.  A number of well watched stocks are set to report this week, including Google (GOOG) LDK Solar (LDK) JPMorgan (JPM) and Wells Fargo (WFC).