Investing.com - Wall Street futures pointed to a flat open Tuesday as investors began to chew through a flurry of earnings reports and kept eyes peeled on President Donald Trump’s meeting with the big three automakers.
The blue-chip Dow futures inched up 4 points, or 0.02%, by 6:54AM ET (11:54GMT), the S&P 500 futures slipped half a point, or 0.02%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures edged forward point, or 0.03%.
U.S. fourth-quarter corporate earnings season gathered pace on Tuesday with a total of five Dow components set to report before the opening bell.
Yahoo (NASDAQ:YHOO) was up more than 1% in pre-market trade after the internet portal reported after the close Monday fourth quarter earnings that beat consensus and swung back to a gain from operations after the prior-year loss.
Blue-chip DuPont (NYSE:DD) produced earnings-per-share (EPS) of $0.51, beating consensus by nine cents, though the annual drop of 1.7% in revenue of $5.21 billion came in slightly under expectations.
Shares in Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) gained more than 1% in pre-market trade Tuesday as the Chinese internet giant reported a fiscal third quarter EPS of $1.30 and revenue of 53.248 billion yuan ($7.7 million), beating forecasts for $1.13 and 33.16 billion yuan, respectively.
Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) saw shares fall more than 2% after fourth quarter revenue of $18.11 billion, missed estimates for $18.42 billion, though EPS of $0.58, topped consensus by two cents.
Other majors such as 3M (NYSE:MMM), Travelers (NYSE:TRV) and Verizon (NYSE:VZ) were also set to report ahead of the opening bell.
After the close, Texas Instruments (NASDAQ:TXN), Alcoa (NYSE:AA), Capital One (NYSE:COF), Discover Financial (NYSE:DFS), Intuitive Surgical (NASDAQ:ISRG), Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX) and Stryker (NYSE:SYK) are on tap.
President Trump will remain in focus as he meets with executives from Ford (NYSE:F), General Motors (NYSE:GM) and Fiat Chrysler (NYSE:FCAU) at the White House at 9:00AM ET (14:00GMT) on Tuesday, as he puts pressure on the auto industry to boost investment in the U.S.
It will be the first time the CEOs of the Big Three carmakers meet jointly with a U.S. president since a July 2011 session with President Obama.
In a meeting with top executives of U.S. manufacturers at the White House on Monday, Trump vowed “massive” cuts in taxes and said he could reduce regulations by "75% or more" to help businesses create more jobs in the U.S. The president also reiterated his pledge to impose a hefty border tax.
On the economic front, market participants would focus on Markit’s preliminary manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) for January at 9:45AM ET (15:45GMT), followed by December existing home sales at 10:00AM ET (16:00GMT).
Meanwhile, oil prices edged higher on Tuesday, bouncing back from the prior session's losses amid ongoing signs that major oil producers are sticking to their pledge to cut back output.
Iraq's oil minister said on Monday that most oil majors working on its territory were participating in oil output reductions agreed as part of the deal between OPEC and non-OPEC producers to help to balance the market.
U.S. crude futures gained 0.19% to $52.85 by 6:55AM ET (11:55GMT), while Brent oil inched up 0.02% to $55.24.
Elsewhere, European stocks traded higher on Tuesday as the UK Supreme Court ruled that the British government would require parliamentary approval to begin the negotiation process of leaving the European Union (EU), known as Brexit.
As widely expected, Britain’s top court ruled that Prime Minister Theresa May would need to seek parliamentary approval in order to trigger Article 50 which jumpstarts the process for the UK to begin negotiating the Brexit.