Investing.com – Wall Street futures pointed to a continuation of the rally on Tuesday sparked by the French presidential elections while markets stood ready to digest a slew of corporate earnings.
The blue-chip Dow futures gained 111 points, or 0.54%, at 7:58AM ET (11:58GMT), the S&P 500 futures rose 5 points, or 0.19%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures rose 12 points, or 0.22%.
Bullish sentiment continued to dominate markets on Tuesday with global stocks hitting record highs and credit given to the first-round victory of Emmanuel Macron and expectations for an easy victory in the runoff vote on May 7 against far-right, euro-skeptic Marine Le Pen, easing fears over a possible French exit from the euro zone.
Despite investor euphoria, market players were keeping an eye on geopolitical tensions as U.S. President Donald Trump invited the entire Senate to a briefing at the White House on Wednesday to discuss the situation in North Korea.
This as North Korea reportedly staged a massive live fire-drill to commemorate the 85th anniversary of the founding of its military, while a U.S. submarine docked in South Korea.
Markets will be occupied Tuesday pouring over a slew of earnings reports, particularly from Dow components.
Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) jumped more than 4% in pre-market trading after the construction equipment maker reported an earnings-per-share (EPS) of $1.28, smashing forecasts for just $0.62.
Dupont (NYSE:DD) reported EPS of $1.64 for the first quarter, blasting past expectations of $1.39.
3M (NYSE:MMM) reported a 3.8% increase in quarterly revenue that helped the maker of Post-its beat on both the top and bottom line.
Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) published an EPS of $0.43, missing expectations for $0.44, but managed to beat on the top line. The beverage giant said organic revenue was flat for the quarter but expected growth to improve for the full year to 3%.
McDonald's (NYSE:MCD) was also due to report earnings before the open.
Outside the Dow and after the market close, the likes of AT&T (NYSE:T), Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE:CMG) or Capital One (NYSE:COF) were on tap to release quarterly numbers.
On a wider scale and according to Thomson Reuters, 77% of the S&P 500 companies that have reported thus far have beaten earnings per share estimates. Profit growth for the quarter is also tracking at about 11%, the best quarter since 2011.
On the economic calendar, investors will focus on consumer confidence for April at 10:00AM ET (14:00GMT), though they will also digest a smattering of housing data including S&P Case Shiller home prices and FHFA home prices, both at 9:00AM ET (13:00GMT), and new home sales at 10:00AM ET (14:00GMT).
Meanwhile, oil prices traded near the unchanged mark on Tuesday, unable to hold earlier gains and continued a now seventh day of declines for West Texas Intermediate as market players also looked ahead to weekly data on U.S. stockpiles as industry group the American Petroleum Institute is due to release its weekly report at 4:30PM ET (20:30GMT) later on Tuesday.
Official data from the Energy Information Administration will be released Wednesday, amid forecasts for an oil-stock drop of 1.3 million barrels.
U.S. crude futures slipped 0.08% to $49.19 by 7:59AM ET (11:59GMT), while Brent oil inched up 0.02% to $52.14.