MW: U.S. stocks: Futures up; CPI, housing starts ahead
MADRID (MarketWatch) — U.S. stock futures pushed higher early Tuesday, as investors waited to see if Wall Street will build on a strong close, and looked ahead to data that is expected to show slowing inflation and faster home building.
Home Depot Inc. was among the companies reporting early.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJU4, +0.32% rose 43 points to 16,836, while those for the S&P 500 index SPU4, +0.20% added 3.7 points to 1,971.20. Futures for the Nasdaq-100 index NDU4, +0.24% gained 9.5 points to 4,022.75.
On Monday, the Nasdaq Composite COMP, +0.97% rose 1%, or 43.39 points, to 4,508.31, its highest close since March 31, 2000, while the Dow industrials DJIA, +1.06% jumped 175.83 points, or 1.1%, to 16,838.74, the biggest point gain since Aug. 8.
Wouter Sturkenboom, strategist at Russell Investments in London, said he is modestly positive on markets. “Yesterday was probably a reaction to the unwarranted volatility on Friday, but the rest of the week is going to be about the FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee) minutes and Jackson Hole conference,” he said in emailed comments.
“On both counts, we and the market expect the prevailing dovish stance to hold, providing upside momentum for markets,” he added, but said owing to valuation concerns, his firm remains neutral on U.S. stocks. Valuation worries have been a persistent theme among some market observers, with Yale Professor Robert Shiller the latest to comment over the weekend.
George Soros and other big-name investors have also been leaning more toward a defensive slant.
This week will see the release of the Fed minutes, due Wednesday, and a speech from Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen at Jackson Hole, Wyo., on Friday. Ahead of those marquee events, consumer prices and housing-start data are on tap at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time on Tuesday.
Inflation has tapered off in the past few months, and that trend is expected to have continued in July. Economists forecast a 0.1% rise in the consumer-price index, or 0.2% excluding food and energy.
Construction on new homes, meanwhile, is expected to bounce back in July after housing starts fell in June to a nine-month low.
Home Depot among stocks to watch
Home Depot HD, -0.12% shares rose more than 3% in premarket trading, after the company lifted its earnings view for 2014 and posted a 5.8% rise in second-quarter same-store sales.
Medtronic MDT, +0.35% ahead of the bell posted first-quarter adjusted earnings of 93 cents a share, a penny a share higher than analysts covering the medical device maker had projected.
In overseas markets, Japanese stocks NIK, +0.83% rose for a seventh day, boosted by Wall Street gains from Monday. European stocks SXXP, +0.43% pushed higher, led by a 5% rise for Danish shipping and oil conglomerate A.P. Møller-Maersk AS MAERSKB, +4.67% Oil CLU4, +0.38% and gold GCZ4, +0.22% added modest gains, while the dollar BUXX, +0.13% held steady.
