US pre-open: Stocks seen touch higher as investors eye more earnings

US futures pointed to a marginally firmer open on Wall Street on Monday as investors awaited data on manufacturing and looked ahead to a busy week in terms of corporate updates.

At 1130 BST, Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 futures were up 0.1%, while Nasdaq futures were 0.2% higher. In currency markets, the dollar was up 0.2% against the pound at 0.7653, 0.1% firmer versus the euro at 0.8729 and 0.1% weaker against the yen at 112.47.

Spreadex analyst Connor Campbell said: "Looking to the US open and Monday’s inertia seems set to continue, with the Dow Jones futures promising a slight 30-point increase after the bell. That would still, however, help the Dow hit a fresh record peak, the index the benefiting greatly from the Federal Reserve’s new found rate hike reticence.

"In terms of data there isn’t a lot to get excited about, the only number on offer being the Empire State manufacturing index, which is expected to fall from 19.8 to 15.2 month-on-month."

Investors will also be digesting the latest round of data from China, which showed second-quarter gross domestic product grew 6.9% from a year earlier, unchanged from the first quarter and ahead of expectations for 6.8%growth. On a quarterly basis, the economy grew 1.7% compared to 1.3% in the first quarter, as expected. Chinese retail sales, industrial production and fixed asset investment data for June were also encouraging.

Banking giants Bank of America and Goldman Sachs are due to report earnings this week, along with General Electric and Microsoft.

On Monday's corporate docket, earnings are due from BlackRock before the opening bell and Netflix after the close.

Procter & Gamble was likely to be active following a Wall Street Journal report that shareholder Nelson Peltz and his Trian Fund Management could be set to fight for a seat on the company's board.

The NY Empire State manufacturing index is due at 1330 BST.