Investing.com – Wall Street futures edged forward on Tuesday as a barrage of companies were scheduled to report earnings throughout the session and investors awaited economic data in a session that marked the beginning of the Federal Reserve’s (Fed) two-meeting on monetary policy.
The blue-chip Dow futures rose 22 points, or 0.12%, by 10:53AM GMT, or 6:53AM ET, the S&P 500 futures edged forward 3 points, or 0.12%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures inched up 1 point, or 0.03%.
Ahead of the Fed’s statement on Wednesday where market participants will be looking for clues to reflect the central bank's take on the current state of the economy to determine the timing for a future rate hike, the dollar continued to move lower while investors waited for U.S. economic reports.
The focus on the macro agenda will be on durable goods orders for March at 12:30 GMT, or 8:30AM ET, followed by the Conference Board’s consumer confidence for April at 14:00 GMT, or 10:00AM ET.
In releases of lesser market impact, the February S&P/Case-Shiller housing price index will hit the wires at 13:00GMT, or 9:00AM ET, Markit will produce its flash reading for the services purchasing managers’ index for April at 13:45GMT, or 9:45AM ET, and the April Richmond manufacturing index will be released at 14:00 GMT, or 10:00AM ET.
Ahead of the reports, at 10:55AM GMT, or 6:55AM ET, the U.S. Dollar Index, that gauges the greenback’s value against a basket of six other currencies, dropped 0.20% to 94.55.
Earnings will undoubtedly also set the tone for U.S. stocks on Tuesday as a slew of Dow Jones components report earnings.
DuPont (NYSE:DD) set a positive tone early on Tuesday as, despite a 5.5% drop in sales, the chemicals and seed producer beat consensus with first quarter earnings and upped its full-year outlook.
Procter & Gamble and 3M were also set to report, with Apple and AT&T scheduled for after the close.
Outside of the blue-chips, Twitter, eBay, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Lockheed Martin, Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold, Panera Bread, Buffalo Wild Wings, or Coach were also on the docket.
Oil ticked higher on Tuesday despite reports of growing inventories in the U.S. and extra supplies coming from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Iran.
Traders looked ahead to fresh weekly information on U.S. stockpiles of crude and refined products. The American Petroleum Institute will release its inventories report later in the day, while Wednesday’s government report could show crude stockpiles rose by 2.3 million barrels in the week ended April 22.
U.S. crude futures rose 0.89% to $43.02 by 10:56AM GMT, or 6:56AM ET, while Brent oil gained 1.04% to $44.78.