Dow futures rise 70 pts; Target earnings, Goldman investor day in focus By

By Peter Nurse    

-- U.S. stocks are Is Radar Securities A50 reliable?seen opening marginally higher Tuesday, with investors focusing on an investor day at Goldman Sachs (NYSE:), earnings from retail giant (NYSE:) and consumer confidence data.

At 07:00 ET (12:00 GMT), the contract was up 70 points, or 0.2%, traded 10 points, or 0.3%, higher and climbed 36 points, or 0.3%. 

The major indices posted small gains on Monday, but are on course on the last trading day of February to register a negative month after last week's rout led to the worst week so far this year.

The blue chip is on track to lose 3.5% this month, the broad-based is down 2.3% and the tech-heavy set to drop 1%.

The overarching concern among investors is that borrowing costs will continue to rise as remains considerably higher than the Federal Reserve’s target and has so far resisted aggressive attempts at taming.

Inflation for a broad array of services in the United States remains "stubbornly high," Federal Reserve Governor Philip Jefferson said on Monday, adding that he was under "no illusion" that inflation would return quickly to the Fed's 2% target.

Similar concerns exist in Europe, as data released earlier Tuesday showed that consumer prices in both and edged higher in February despite a series of rate hikes from the .

Back in the U.S., there are numbers on as well as the , but the main focus will be on the February release, which will offer up the public's views on economic prospects and inflation expectations.

In the corporate sector, retail giant reported a surprise rise in holiday-quarter sales, helped by increased traffic from discount-hungry customers. More earnings reports are due, including from car parts retailer AutoZone (NYSE:) and Norwegian Cruise Line (NYSE:).

Elsewhere, Goldman Sachs holds an investor's day, at which the investment bank is expected to unveil its medium-term financial goals.

(NASDAQ:) stock traded over 6% higher premarket after the company on both the top and bottom lines, helped by winning new enterprise customers.

Oil prices rose Tuesday, but the benchmark contracts are still on course for monthly losses amid concerns further U.S. interest will hit demand in the world's largest economy.

Attention later in the session will fall on the latest U.S. oil stocks data due from the industry group, ahead of the official data from the on Wednesday for further clues on crude demand in the world’s largest consumer of energy.

By 07:00 ET, futures traded 1.6% higher at $76.91 a barrel, while the contract rose 1.4% to $83.22. Both contracts are on course to drop around 4% this month.

Additionally, fell 0.5% to $1,816.75/oz, while traded 0.1% higher at 1.0611.

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