Futures Gain Ahead of Corporate Earnings



Stock futures rose marginally on Tuesday as investors awaited key corporate earnings and the beginning of the Federal Reserve’s policy meeting.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials gathered 23 points, or 0.1%, to 40,794.

Futures for the S&P 500 index hiked 10 points, or 0.2%, at 5,513.

Futures for the NASDAQ took on 43.75 points, or 0.2%, to 19,252.50.

CrowdStrike shares fell more than 4% amid media reports that Delta Air Lines hired attorney David Boies to seek damages from CrowdStrike and Microsoft after an outage this month led to thousands of flight cancellations.

Merck shares fell more than 1% in the premarket as weaker-than-expected guidance for the full year overshadowed a strong second-quarter report. Pfizer, meanwhile, climbed 1.8% on stronger-than-anticipated earnings and revenue. The company also raised its full-year top- and bottom-line guidance.

Investors will also watch closely for numbers from Microsoft, Advanced Micro Devices and Starbucks after the closing bell.

So far, more than 40% of the S&P 500 companies have reported their results with 79% posting earnings that exceeded Wall Street expectations, according to LSEG. That compares to a five-year average earnings beat rate of 77%

The Fed’s two-day policy meeting is set to begin Tuesday where central bank Chief Jerome Powell could signal the timing and number of rate cuts expected in the next few months.

On Tuesday, traders will be watching for job openings data for the month of June. Economists polled by Dow Jones are calling for 8.1 million job openings, the same as in May. Consumer confidence for July is also slated for release.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 gained 0.2% Tuesday, while in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index faltered 1.4%.

Oil prices ditched 50 cents to $75.32 U.S. a barrel.

Gold prices gained $10.50 to $2,388.30