Investing.com - U.S. futures pointed to a higher opening bell on Tuesday, as Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) reinvention of itself as an entertainment and financial services company distracted investors from concerns over ominous signals from the bond market.
Apple rose 0.8% in premarket trading after closing in the red as it unveiled a movie and television streaming service. The company also introduced a credit card and video game arcade, in an effort to move its revenue mix from being device-heavy to subscription-based as iPhone sales plateau.
Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX), a company that stands to face increased competition from Apple's new service, shrugged off the news, rising another 0.5% to add to Monday's 1.5% gain.
Dow futures rose 117 points to 0.5% by 6:45 AM ET (10:45 GMT), while S&P 500 futures gained 11 points or 0.4% and tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures was up 27 points or 0.4%.
Concerns about the future path of the economy have moderated a little since Friday, when the U.S. Treasury yield curve inverted for the first time since 2007. Three-month bill rates are still marginally higher than 10-year yields, a configuration that has in the past been a reliable advance indicator of a recession. Analysts warn that its predictive power has probably weakened in the wake of the financial crisis, however.
The yield on the benchmark United States 10-Year Treasury note was at 2.44%, after falling as low as 2.39% last Friday. The three-month T-bill rate was at 2.46%.
Overnight, the world's biggest chipmaker Samsung (KS:005930) warned that its first-quarter profit would miss market expectations due to a fall in chip prices.
Still, chipmakers were higher, with Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD) up 1.4% and Micron (NASDAQ:MU) rising 1.1%. Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) and Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) were also both up a touch.
Elsewhere, Carnival (NYSE:CCL) fell 1.2%, while Thor Industries (NYSE:THO) slumped 1.7%. Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) jumped 1.5% after a lawsuit over Tesla Model 3 production claims was dismissed.
In economic news, building permits and housing starts are released at 8:30 AM ET (12:30 GMT), while consumer confidence data is out at 10:00 AM ET (14:00 GMT).
In commodities, gold futures were down 0.7% to $1,320.15 a troy ounce, while crude oil gained 1.2% to $59.54. The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, slipped 0.1% to 95.998.