US open: Stocks edge higher as investors digest bulk of economic data

US stocks edged higher early on Tuesday, after trimming earlier gains in the wake of a disappointing durable goods report.

Just after 15:00 BST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 58 points, while the S&P 500 was three points higher and the Nasdaq was broadly flat.

Tuesday data

According to the Department of Commerce, total durable goods orders fell by 1.8% in May, falling short of economists' expectations for a drop of 0.5% month-on-month.

”If orders continue to contract then we might well see a slump in US GDP figures, yet Janet Yellen and her Federal Reserve colleagues won’t be scrapping plans to raise interest rates just yet," said Dennis de Jong, managing director at UFX.com.

“Investors will likely take advantage of a weak dollar while they can, as the proposed September rate rise draws ever closer.”

Sales of new homes in the US rose at the fastest pace since 2008 last month, the US Commerce Department said.

New home sales jumped 19.5% year-on-year in May to an annual rate of 546,000, exceeding expectations for a 525,000 reading and edging higher from the previous month's upwardly revised reading of 536,000.

Meanwhile, US house prices rose in April, a widely-followed survey showed on Tuesday.

In April, the Federal Housing Finance Agency monthly House Price Index was up 0.3% on a seasonally-adjusted basis from the previous month, while house prices rose 5.3% year-on-year.

"The continued solid increases across home price surveys, including S&P/Case Shiller, CoreLogic and FHFA, suggests that the recent momentum is likely to be a reflection of underlying solid activity and should be sustained," analysts at Barclays said in a note.

Investors also digested a report that showed the Markit US manufacturing PMI fell to 53.4 in June from 54 in May, missing expectations for a rise to 54.1.

Greece hopes pushes European, Asian stocks higher

Hopes of a deal between Greece and its creditors remained intact on Tuesday, ahead of Wednesday's Eurogroup meeting, although analysts warned that a lack of news could leave investors in limbo.

"The feeling of not knowing is the worst, and dealers don’t know whether to bank their profits or to keep going long in the hope that a deal will be hammered out towards the end of the week," said David Madden, market analyst at IG.

"In scenarios like this traders can be fickle, and if they are not fed positive news in quick succession they can lose interest very fast."

European stocks pushed higher on the news, although the optimism surrounding Greece did not prevent the euro from tumbling over 1.5% against the dollar.

The greenback posted gains of 0.58% and 0.45% against the pound and the yen respectively, while gold futures slid 0.46% to $1,178.60.

Elsewhere, Asian stocks closed mostly higher while oil prices were mixed, with West Texas Intermediate losing 0.27% to $60.22 a barrel, while Brent rose 0.11% to $63.41 a barrel.

Mixed earnings on Wall Street

In company news, analytics provider IHS shed 0.82%, despite reporting ahead of the opening bell that its first-quarter earnings beat expectations.

Mobile communications giant BlackBerry dropped 1.46% after its first-quarter revenue and earnings missed estimates, although the company posted strong results for its software and technology business.

Health and fitness group Fitbit gained 1.70% ahead of the bell, extending gains into its fourth day of trading after surging over 50% upon making its debut on the New York Stock Exchange last week.

Reloadable prepaid debit cards provider Green Dot surged 32% following news that its deal to manage and issue Wal-Mart's MoneyaCard debit cards was renewed for a further five years.