By Peter Nurse
Investing.com - U.S. stocks are seen opening largely unchanged higher Tuesday, continuing at record levels on the back of a strong earnings season and ahead of the release of key inflation data.
At 7:05 AM ET (1205 GMT), the Dow Futures contract was down 30 points, or 0.1%, while S&P 500 Futures traded 2 points, or 0.1%, higher and Nasdaq 100 Futures climbed 25 points, or 0.2%.
The three major indices once again closed at record highs on Monday, with the blue chip Dow Jones Industrial Average gaining over 100 points, or 0.3%, and the broad-based S&P 500 climbing 0.1%. The Nasdaq Composite added 0.1%, its 11th straight positive session, the longest daily winning streak since December 2019.
The passage of the long-awaited infrastructure bill has added to the positive tone created by a benign central bank as the economy recovers from the Covid-19 pandemic.
Also helping has been a generally beneficial earnings season - 445 of the S&P 500 companies have reported as of early Monday, and average earnings growth of 38% has been better than the 27% consensus forecast, according to Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) analysts. They also noted that profit margins have held up surprisingly well in a surprisingly broad range of sectors.
The quarterly reporting season is drawing to a close, but DR Horton (NYSE:DHI) is set for a strong start after reporting a jump in earnings due to higher house prices, while Wynn Resorts (NASDAQ:WYNN) and Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN) are due after the market closes.
Elsewhere, General Electric (NYSE:GE) will be in the spotlight after the industrial conglomerate announced plans to split into three separate units, focusing on aviation, health care and energy, after years of underperformance as a conglomerate.
Robinhood (NASDAQ:HOOD) will also be in focus after the company, which runs a trading app for retail investors, revealed a data security breach which saw “a limited amount of personal information” being compromised.
AMC Entertainment (NYSE:AMC), the U.S.’s largest movie theater chain, posted a narrower loss and higher revenue than expected, while TripAdvisor (NASDAQ:TRIP), the travel-booking company, disappointed on both the top- and bottom-line with its third quarter results.
Also of interest will be this week’s inflation data, starting with the producer price index at 8:30 AM ET (1230 GMT), followed by the consumer price index on Wednesday. Economists are expecting producer prices to have risen 0.6% on the month in October, equating to an annual rise of 8.7%.
Crude prices edged higher Tuesday, continuing recent gains, benefiting from the tight global supply and increasing signs of a post-pandemic economic recovery.
Investors now await U.S. crude oil supply data from the American Petroleum Institute later Tuesday and the U.S. Energy Information Administration on Wednesday.
U.S. crude inventories are expected to have risen a third straight week, potentially helping to cap further gains.
By 7:05 AM ET, U.S. crude futures traded 0.5% at $82.30 a barrel, while the Brent contract rose 0.4% to $83.75.
Additionally, gold futures fell 0.2% to $1,825.00/oz, while EUR/USD traded 0.1% lower at 1.1581.