Expectations For New Fed Stimulus Measures Spur US Stock Futures

U.S. stock index futures point to a higher open Tuesday as investor sentiment turned positive on expectations for new U.S. Federal Reserve stimulus measures.

Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were up 0.48 percent, Standard & Poor’s 500 index were up 0.54 percent and futures on the Nasdaq 100 index were up 0.49 percent.

U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will deliver his semi-annual report to the Congress Tuesday. Market experts expect he will announce monetary easing measures while encouraging lesislators to enact more spedking legislation to stimulate the economy. .

Investors are likely to focus on the Dept. of Labor's Consumer Price Index (CPI) for June report, to be published Tuesday. The CPI, which measures the change in the price of goods and services from consumer's perspectives, is expected to fall 0.1 percent in June after dropping by 0.3 percent in May.

Also, the Federal Reserve will publish its Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization report on Tuesday. The report measures the change in the total inflation-adjusted value of output produced by manufacturers, mines and utilities. It is expected to rise by 0.3 percent in June after declining 0.1 percent in May.

Investors will also be keep an eye the fallout from the International Monetary Fund's quarterly update to its World Economic Outlook report. The latest report, published Monday, reduced its global growth forecast for 2013 to 3.9 percent from the 4.1 percent it had predicted in April.

On Monday, U.S. markets fell as investor sentiment turned negative following disappointing retail sales data for June. According to figures released by the Commerce Dept., June retail sales fell 0.5 percent, down from a decline of 0.2 percent in May. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 0.39 percent, the S&P 500 Index dropped 0.23 percent and the Nasdaq Composite Index was down 0.40 percent.

Major European indices rose as investors expected new quantitative easing measures to be announced by policy makers around the globe in effort to revive global economic growth. London’s FTSE 100 was up 7.56 points, Germany's DAX 30 Index rose 23.92 points and France's CAC 40 advanced 4.55 points.

Asian stocks also made gains as market players remained optimistic that China will soon announce monetary easing measures to stimulate the economic growth.