By Nikhil Sharma and Pranav Kashyap
(Reuters) -Wall Street futures inched higher on Tuesday, supported by optimism over the Federal Reserve’s rate cuts, while investors turned their attention to a fresh batch of corporate earnings.
At 6:51 a.m. ET, S&P 500 E-minis were up 16.75 points, or 0.26%, Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 90 points, or 0.39%, and Dow E-minis were down 1 point at 44,302.
Wall Street roared back to life on Monday, as it posted its strongest gains in more than two months after recouping losses from a selloff on Friday, when disappointing July jobs numbers and sharp revisions to prior data fueled expectations for a September Fed rate cut.
According to CME Group’s FedWatch tool, investors have rapidly shifted gears – now pegging the odds of a September cut at 90%, up from just 63.3% last week.
Markets are now betting on at least two quarter-point cuts before the end of the year.
Earnings from major names on Tuesday include Advanced Micro Devices, Snap and Rivian .
Pfizer gained 3% in premarket trading after raising annual profit forecast, while Palantir Technologies rose 6.1% as it boosted its annual revenue forecast.
Online telehealth company Hims and Hers Health crashed 13% after missing Street estimates for second-quarter revenue, as subscribers for its compounded versions of weight-loss drugs declined.
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump’s decision to fire the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, responsible for past jobs data, stoked investors’ fears about the integrity of economic data.
Federal Reserve Governor Adriana Kugler’s surprise resignation on Friday also opened avenues for Trump to shake up the Fed’s leadership earlier than expected. The U.S. president has repeatedly criticized Fed Chair Jerome Powell for not cutting interest rates.
“U.S. growth resilience has been relatively remarkable so far, even if the U.S. job market is raising doubts about what’s coming next,” said Amelie Derambure, senior multi-asset portfolio manager at Amundi.
The final July reading of S&P Global’s Purchasing Managers’ Index is scheduled for release at 9:45 a.m. ET, followed by the Institute for Supply Management’s non-manufacturing PMI at 10:00 a.m. ET.
Investors also weighed the impact of U.S. tariffs on global economies and corporate earnings. Trump on Monday threatened to raise import tariffs on goods from India over its Russian oil purchases, while New Delhi called the attack “unjustified” and vowed to protect its economic interests.
Markets were also still watching if Trump will decide to extend a trade truce with China that expires on August 12, or potentially let tariffs shoot back up to triple-digits.
Caterpillar fell 4% after reporting a lower second-quarter profit, hurt by sluggish demand for construction equipment and higher costs tied to U.S. tariffs.
DuPont gained 6.7% after forecasting upbeat third-quarter results on robust electronics, healthcare demand.
(Reporting by Nikhil Sharma and Pranav Kashyap in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Twesha Dikshit; Editing by Maju Samuel)
