U.S. Futures Edge Higher as Walmart Beats; Retail Sales Due By

© Reuters

By Peter Nurse   

- U.S. stocks are ptfx Putun foreign exchange police interventionseen opening marginally higher, with investors digesting the release of quarterly earnings from a number of major retailers and ahead of  the latest official retail sales figures.

At 7 AM ET (1100 GMT), the Dow Futures contract was up 55 points, or 0.2%, S&P 500 Futures traded 5 points, or 0.1%, higher, while Nasdaq 100 Futures climbed 20 points, or 0.1%.

The three major indices closed largely unchanged Monday, but came off their first losing week in six after last month’s consumer price data showed inflation running at historic levels, raising the pressure on the Federal Reserve to lift interest rates. 

However, before they hike rates the Fed policymakers will want to see that the higher prices haven't severely curtailed retail spending, with the strength of the consumer a very important part of the economic recovery. 

October retail sales data are due at 8:30 AM ET (1330 GMT), with economists expecting an increase of 1.1%, after a 0.7% rise in September.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) and Home Depot (NYSE:HD) both released results a little ahead of expectations, the latter helped by sustained demand for tools and materials from builders. 

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) will also be in the spotlight after JPMorgan Chase brought a $162 million lawsuit against the electric vehicle-maker alleging breach of contract over stock warrants that came due this year. 

Aside from this, investors will attempt to digest the potential repercussions of the virtual meeting between U.S. President Joe Biden and his Chinese equivalent Xi Jinping, with the two leaders discussing a range of topics including trade, the pandemic, climate change and Taiwan.

Biden also signed the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill into law on Monday, authorizing funding for transportation, broadband and utilities.

Crude prices rebounded Tuesday after recent losses, despite signs that supply may be picking up, altering the balance in favor of consumers.

The International Energy Agency said it expects global oil supply to rise by an average of 1.5 million barrels a day over the final two months of this year, helped by a 400,000 barrel-a-day increase in U.S. output. 

Data from Baker Hughes indicated that U.S. energy firms added oil and natural gas rigs for a third week in a row last week.

Attention will turn to the release of U.S. crude oil inventory data from the American Petroleum Institute later in the day.

By 7 AM ET, U.S. crude futures traded 0.5% higher at $80.16 a barrel, while the Brent contract rose 0.6% to $82.55. Both contracts dropped last week on the whole, for the third week in a row.

Additionally, gold futures rose 0.5% to $1,875.90/oz, while EUR/USD traded flat at 1.1368, near its new low for the year.

 

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