Wall Street tilts toward higher open before data on inflation
NEW YORK -- Wall Street was poised to open modestly higher Tuesday as investors awaited readings on inflation and manufacturing and more earnings reports.
The Commerce Department at 8:30 a.m. EDT releases its Producer Price Index. The index is expected to show a 0.5 percent rise for March, and the core index, which strips out food and energy prices, is anticipated to increase 0.2 percent.
High inflation figures could raise worries that the Federal Reserve will hesitate to lower interest rates again, and that consumers will continue paring back their discretionary spending to afford necessities like food, energy and health care.
Meanwhile Tuesday, the New York Fed is expected to report that manufacturing in the region contracted, but at a much milder pace than in March, when the state's manufacturing shrank at a record clip.
Johnson & Johnson, one of the 30 Dow Jones industrials, is scheduled to release its first-quarter results. Wall Street is forecasting a rise in profit at the maker of health care and personal products.
After stocks closed Monday moderately lower, Dow futures early Tuesday morning initially slipped but then turned higher, rising 7, or 0.06 percent, to 12,323. Standard & Poor's 500 index futures rose 1.20, or 0.09 percent, to 1,332.40. Nasdaq 100 index futures rose 4.75, or 0.26 percent, to 1,801.00.
Bond prices rose. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, dipped to 3.49 percent from 3.51 percent late Monday.
Late Monday, Delta Air Lines Inc. and Northwest Airlines Corp. agreed to combine in a stock-swap deal that will create the world's biggest airline. Delta shares rose 5 percent in pre-market trading, while Northwest shares rose 10 percent.
Oil prices surged to record highs ahead of the New York Mercantile Exchange's official trading session. Light, sweet crude rose $1.49 to $113.25 a barrel in premarket electronic trading.
Gold prices also rose, while the dollar was mixed against other major currencies.
Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average rose 0.77 percent. Britain's FTSE 100 rose 0.73 percent, Germany's DAX index fell 0.28 percent, and France's CAC-40 slipped 0.26 percent.