Investing.com - Wall Street futures pointed to a higher open on Tuesday as market participants await new home sales in a day when Federal Reserve (Fed) officials are absent from the calendar and while crude continued to slip on supply glut concerns.
The blue-chip Dow futures gained 47 points, or 0.27%, by 10:59AM GMT, or 6:59AM ET, the S&P 500 futures rose 7 points, or 0.34%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures advanced 15 points, or 0.35%.
Markets continued to eye the odds for when the Fed will embark on the continuation of monetary policy normalization with odds having ticked up slightly to 30% for the June meeting at Monday’s close.
After the closing bell in the prior session, Philadephia Fed president Patrick Harker said that he still expected there to be two to three rate hikes this year.
The view was in line with comments from San Francisco Fed chief John Williams who spoke during the regular session on Monday.
No Fed officials were scheduled to speak on Tuesday, with market participants looking forward to an appearance from Janet Yellen on Friday.
The Fed chair could give some indications on her read of the economy or plans for monetary policy in conversations with a Harvard University professor after accepting an award from the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study.
On the economic front, the April new home sales and the Richmond Fed manufacturing index will be released at 14:00GMT, or 10:00AM ET.
In company news, shares of Toll Brothers Inc (NYSE:TOL) jumped more than 3% in the pre-market after beating consensus with its fiscal second quarter earnings.
Best Buy Co Inc (NYSE:BBY) and AutoZone (NYSE:AZO) were among other companies to report before the opening bell.
Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co (NYSE:HPE) and Intuit will release numbers after the market close.
Elsewhere, European stock markets turned positive in afternoon hours on Tuesday, following a shaky start to the trading session, as financial shares advanced.
Earlier, shares in Asia closed mostly lower, led by declines in Japan and China, as oil prices fell, while investors continued to struggle with uncertainty over the timing of the next U.S. rate hike.
Meanwhile, oil prices pushed lower on Tuesday, on track for its fifth straight day of losses, on signs that supply disruptions in Canada and Africa are coming to an end.
Investors looked ahead to weekly crude inventory data from the American Petroleum Institute to be released later on Tuesday.
U.S. crude futures lost 0.37% to $47.90 by 11:00AM GMT, or 7:00AM ET, while Brent oil traded down 0.56% to $48.08.