Investing.com – U.S. futures were higher on Tuesday, as uncertainty over the tax cut bill eases.
The S&P 500 futures inched forward five points or 0.20% as of 6:52 AM ET (11:52 AM GMT) while Dow futures jumped 56 points or 0.24%. Meanwhile tech heavy Nasdaq 100 futures rose 16 points or 0.26%.
Oil firm BP (LON:BP) PLC ADR (NYSE:BP) was among the top gainers in pre-market trading, rising 1.00% while steel production firm Arcelormittal (AS:MT) was up 0.74%. Meanwhile Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) increased 0.71% after reports that the firm was opening brick and mortar stores in China.
Financial stocks were down. Banking giant HSBC Holdings (LON:HSBA) PLC ADR (NYSE:HSBC) inched down 0.27% while financial institution ING Group NV ADR (NYSE:ING)slipped 0.28%. Elsewhere pharmaceutical firm Teva Pharma Industries Ltd ADR (NYSE:TEVA) fell 0.61% while Chinese microlender Qudian Inc (NYSE:QD) was down 0.80%.
On Monday U.S. President Donald Trump said at a cabinet meeting that his administration was going to "give the American people a huge tax cut for Christmas," according to Associated Press.
House Republicans passed the tax cut bill on Thursday and a version of the bill is now making its way through the Senate. Some analysts are skeptical that the tax cuts will get pushed through before the end of the year.
In economic news, the Chicago Fed National Activity Index comes out at 8:30 AM ET (1:30 PM GMT) while existing home sales is released at 10:00 AM ET (3:00 PM GMT).
On Tuesday Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen is expected to participate in a moderated discussion with British economist Mervyn King. Investors will be watching for any indication of a rate hike at the next Federal Open Market Committee meeting in December.
Stocks in Europe rallied. Germany’s DAX rose 67 points or 0.52% while in France the CAC 40 increased 20 points or 0.41% and in London, the FTSE 100 inched forward 10 points or 0.14%. Meanwhile the pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 rose 11 points or 0.32% while Spain’s IBEX 35 was up 14 points or 0.14%.
In commodities, gold futures rose 0.29% to $1,279.02 a troy ounce while crude oil futures increased 0.34% to $56.61 a barrel. The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, inched forward 0.03% to 94.02.