By Peter Nurse
Investing.com - U.S. stocks are set to edge higher at the open Tuesday, continuing the recent positive trend on signs of an improving economy even amid worries about a coronavirus resurgence and U.S.-China trade tensions.
At 7:AM ET (1100 GMT),S&P 500 Futures traded 21 points, or 0.7%, higher, Nasdaq Futures up 56 points, or 0.6%. The Dow Futures contract rose 201 points, or 0.8%.
Wall Street has powered higher since the lows in March--last week was the fourth winning week out of the last five--helped by the hefty amounts of fiscal and monetary stimulus and signs of economic recovery.
Investment bank J.P. Morgan turned positive on U.S. equities on Monday, upgrading its investment stance to overweight, after dropping to neutral late last year.
However, coronavirus infections continue to mount worldwide, reaching over 9 million cases, and parts of the U.S. are now registering daily records for new infections since the start of the pandemic.
Additionally, the fraught nature of the relationship between the U.S. and China, the two largest economies in the world, was laid bare overnight after President Donald Trump was forced to contradict his trade advisor Peter Navarro's claim that the phase one trade deal concluded in January was "over".
Economic data releases will center around the IHS Markit Purchasing Managers Index release for June, due at 9:45 AM ET (1345 GMT), which are seen as leading indicators of overall economic performance. The manufacturing PMI number is expected to come in at 48, up from 39.8 the prior month, while services PMI expected to be 46.5, up from 37.5.
Earlier Tuesday, the composite eurozone PMI hit a four-month high of 47.5, up from 31.9 in May and a record low below 14 in April, at the depths of the pandemic-driven lockdowns. That's still below the 50 reading that separates growth from contraction, however.
Additionally, new home sales for May are scheduled at 10 AM ET, and are expected to be 640,000, up 3.5% pn the month, compared with a gain of 0.6% the previous month.
In corporate news, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) will remain in the spotlight, fresh from another all-time high after confirming it will start using own ARM-based processors in its new Mac and laptop computers.
However, influential investment bank Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) keeps a sell rating on the tech giant, saying “as we continue further into the Covid-related recession we believe that Apple's expensive products are likely to see substantially weaker demand than consensus expects.”
Oil prices pushed higher Tuesday, continuing the positive tone after the WTI contract settled Monday above $40 a barrel for the first time since March 6.
Later Tuesday, the American Petroleum Institute will release its own data on crude oil and product inventories. Those numbers come in advance of government figures that are usually released on Wednesday.
U.S. crude prices rose 1.9% to $41.49 a barrel, while Brent Futures climbed 1.7% to $43.80.
Elsewhere, gold futures rose 0.2% to 1,769.80/oz, while EUR/USD traded at 1.1288, up.3%.