US pre-open: Futures higher ahead of data avalanche

Wall Street futures were in the green ahead of the bell on Tuesday as investors braced for a number of data points.

As of 1200 GMT, Dow Jones futures were up 0.23%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures had the indices opening 0.25% and 0.30% firmer, respectively.

The Dow closed 72.17 points higher on Monday as Treasury yields eased back from recent highs.

Despite a generally strong start to the year, major indices were set to register their second negative month out of the last three going into the final day of February trading, with the Dow down more than 3% on the month and negative for the year as a whole.

Scope Markets' James Hughes said: "US futures made a solid start to the overnight session but momentum has been ebbing away since, leaving Wall Street looking at a start that will be markedly lower. A mixed session in Asia and a weaker start in Europe is doing little to lend support here, whilst month-end position keeping also has the ability to provide a degree of influence.

"US economic data remains something of a mixed bag with yesterday's better than expected pending home sales print again adding weight to policy hawks at the Federal Reserve. Later in today's session, the Chicago PMI print and Consumer Board confidence figure will both be in focus, with upbeat prints here unlikely to offer any respite for equities, either."

On the macro front, January's goods trade balance figures and retail inventories numbers will be published at 1330 GMT, December's house price index was slated for release at 1400 GMT, as was S&P/Case-Shiller's December home price index, February's Chicago PMI will be on deck at 1445 GMT, the Consumer Board's consumer confidence report and the Richmond Fed's manufacturing index will be out at 1500 GMT, and the Dallas Fed's services index will follow at 1530 GMT.

In the corporate space, Target, AutoZone, Norwegian Cruise Line, and AMC Entertainment will all report earnings on Tuesday.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com