Investing.com - Wall Street futures pointed to a higher open on Tuesday amid relief that the economic cost of Hurricane Irma will probably be lower than had been feared.
The blue-chip Dow futures gained 50.5 points, or 0.23% by 06:50 AM ET (10:50 GMT), the S&P 500 futures rose 4 points or 0.16%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures traded up 12.88 points or 0.21%.
The gains came a day after the S&P 500 surged over 1% to a record high close, with insurers advancing as Hurricane Irma weakened.
Irma caused severe flooding many parts of Florida and knocked out power to more than 6 million homes and businesses, but damage appeared to be less severe than expected.
That relieved investors, particularly in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, the impact of which is expected to hit third quarter growth.
Risk appetite also recovered amid relief that North Korea did not conduct another nuclear test or weapons test over the weekend as some had feared.
Shares in Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) were up more than 1% in premarket trade ahead of the expected launch of the new iPhone 8.
Meanwhile, Teva (NYSE:TEVA) surged around 8% ahead of the open after it said Monday that it agreed to sell its contraceptive brand Paragard to a unit of Cooper Cos for $1.1 billion.
The announcement came a day after the struggling Israeli-based pharmaceutical company named a new chief executive.
Equifax (NYSE:EFX) looked likely to remain in the spotlight after Standard & Poor’s downgraded its outlook on the consumer credit reporting agency to negative from stable following a data breach that affected 143 million Americans.
Equifax shares fell 8.2% on Monday.
In other markets, the U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, dipped but still clung on to gains following a rebound on Monday.
Gold prices were modestly lower, while oil prices slipped amid concerns over the demand outlook in the wake of Hurricanes Irma and Harvey.