By Tomi Kilgore and Tommy Stubbington
U.S. stock futures gained Tuesday, extending the previous
session's sharp rise, with upbeat earnings from some blue-chip
companies helping set a positive tone.
About 90 minutes ahead of the open, Dow Jones Industrial Average
futures tacked on 34 points, or 0.2%, to 16130.
S&P 500 index futures advanced five points, or 0.3%, to 1829
and Nasdaq-100 futures rose 10 points, or 0.3%, to 3480. Changes in
stock futures don't always accurately predict stock moves after the
opening bell.
On Monday, stocks staged a broad rally as investors focused on
strong retail sales data and better-than-expected earnings from
banking giant Citigroup. The Dow climbed 146 points, or 0.9%, on
Monday, while the recently hard hit Nasdaq Composite Index gained
0.6%.
The gains offered investors a reprieve from the downturn in
stocks this month. Until Monday's bounce, the S&P 500 had
fallen 4% since closing at a record high on April 2, while the
Nasdaq had dropped 8.2% since closing at a 14-year high on March
5.
Earnings from Dow components helped further support sentiment
early Tuesday. Coca-Cola gained 2.3% in premarket trading after
first-quarter adjusted earnings met estimates, while revenue rose
slightly above forecasts, amid an increase in world-wide case
volume.
And Johnson & Johnson advanced 2.1% after reporting
better-than-expected first-quarter earnings and raising its
full-year outlook.
Fellow Dow member Intel, which is slated to report results after
the close, edged up 0.3%.
Many investors remain upbeat on stocks in the long term, given
an improving economy and an accommodative Federal Reserve, but they
expect some additional volatility in the near term, especially in
the once-highflying biotechnology stocks and shares of relatively
young Internet companies.
Adam Grimes, chief investment officer at Waverly Advisors, which
provides tactical research and advisory services to traders and
money managers, expects more volatility in the short term, as the
market is no longer acting like it did during last year's strong
bull run. "This is a market that is reminding us that it doesn't
have to go straight up," Mr. Grimes said.
For long-term investors, however, Mr. Grimes said the market
still looks very bullish, so they should just "sit tight" in the
current volatile market environment. "You don't necessarily want to
be buying dips, but you don't want to be selling into them,
either," Mr. Grimes said. "It is a time for no action."
At 8:30 a.m. Eastern, the consumer-price index for March is
expected to rise 0.1% on the month, and by 0.1% when excluding the
food and energy components. At the same time, the New York the New
York Federal Reserve's Empire State index of manufacturing activity
for April is seen rising to 8.0 from 5.61 in March. After the open,
the National Association of Home Builders' housing-market index for
April is forecast to rise to 50 from 47 in March.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury note ticked up to 2.662% from
2.637% late Monday.
Crude-oil futures eased 0.9% to $103.12 a barrel, after settling
at a six-week high on Monday, while gold futures fell 1.8% to
$1,304.20 an ounce. The dollar gained against the euro, but eased
slightly against the yen.
European markets edged lower, with investors cautious following
the recent flare-up of tensions in Ukraine. The Stoxx Europe 600
slipped 0.1%. Germany's DAX 30 index gave up 0.3%, France's CAC 40
edged up 0.2% and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 was virtually unchanged.
On Tuesday, Ukraine's acting president Oleksandr Turchynov said
that a military operation to wrest control of cities in eastern
Ukraine from pro-Russian militants has begun. There were no
immediate reports of specific action, however.
"We are a bit more concerned after the escalation in Ukraine
over the weekend," said Christopher Wright, a cross-asset
strategist at UBS Wealth Management. "That's adding a bit of a risk
premium to markets."
Separately, data showed investor confidence in Germany declined
for the fourth month in a row in April, amid concerns over
Ukraine.
Asian markets were mostly lower, with China's Shanghai Composite
shedding 1.4% ahead of the release of China's first-quarter growth
numbers on Wednesday. Meanwhile, Japan's Nikkei Stock Average
gained 0.6% to bounce off a six-month closing low on Monday.
In other corporate news, Motorola Solutions gained 0.7% after
the company agreed to sell its enterprise business to Zebra
Technologies for $3.45 billion in cash. Zebra's stock rallied
9.8%.
General Electric tacked on 0.4% after The Wall Street Journal
reported the company's chief executive officer Jeff Immelt may give
up leadership of the industrial conglomerate sooner than his
expected 20-year tenure. Mr. Immelt has run GE for 13 years, but he
and fellow directors are re-evaluating the right term for its
CEO.
Write to Tomi Kilgore at tomi.kilgore@wsj.com and Tommy
Stubbington at tommy.stubbington@wsj.com
Access Investor Kit for Citigroup, Inc.
Visit
http://www.companyspotlight.com/partner?cp_code=A591&isin=US1729674242
Access Investor Kit for The Coca-Cola Co.
Visit
http://www.companyspotlight.com/partner?cp_code=A591&isin=US1912161007
Access Investor Kit for General Electric Co.
Visit
http://www.companyspotlight.com/partner?cp_code=A591&isin=US3696041033
Access Investor Kit for Intel Corp.
Visit
http://www.companyspotlight.com/partner?cp_code=A591&isin=US4581401001
Access Investor Kit for Johnson & Johnson
Visit
http://www.companyspotlight.com/partner?cp_code=A591&isin=US4781601046
Access Investor Kit for Motorola Solutions, Inc.
Visit
http://www.companyspotlight.com/partner?cp_code=A591&isin=US6200763075
Access Investor Kit for The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc.
Visit
http://www.companyspotlight.com/partner?cp_code=A591&isin=US6311031081
Access Investor Kit for Zebra Technologies Corp.
Visit
http://www.companyspotlight.com/partner?cp_code=A591&isin=US9892071054