Stimulus Measure Hopes Lift US Stock Futures

U.S. stock index futures point to a higher open Tuesday amid hopes that central banks around the world will announce stimulus measures to boost the economy and regain the growth momentum.

Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were up 0.23 percent, those on the Standard & Poor’s 500 index were up 0.21 percent, while the ones on the Nasdaq 100 index were up 0.27 percent.

The Bank of Japan’s minutes of the July meeting announced Tuesday showed that policy makers were considering monetary measures to rejuvenate the country's economy. Market players sense that the central bank will remain alert in order to respond in a coordinated manner with other central banks.

Investors are also expecting the European Central Bank (ECB) to soon announce stimulus measures as the gross domestic product data from Germany and France indicates that the euro zone economy continues to falter. The German economy grew at 0.3 percent, down from 0.5 percent in the previous quarter. Meanwhile, the French economy had 0 percent growth in the second quarter, same as in the previous quarter.

Investors are likely to focus on the July retail sales report due from the Commerce Department at 8:30 a.m. EDT. Economists predict the report, which measures change in the total value of inflation-adjusted sales at the retail level, will show a 0.3 percent increase against a 0.5 percent decline in June. Meanwhile, core retail sales, excluding autos, are expected to grow 0.4 percent, compared to the 0.4 percent decline in June.

Investors are also expected to focus Tuesday on the Dept. of Labor's Producer Price Index, which measures the change in the price of goods sold by manufacturers. The index, a leading indicator of consumer price inflation, is expected to rise 0.2 percent in July after a 0.1 percent increase in June.

The U.S. stocks were mixed Monday as investors continued to have concerns about the faltering global economy amid reports of Japan’s economic growth slowing down in the second quarter. Japan's economy grew 0.3 percent in April-June, down from the 1.2 percent in the first three months of the year due to a soft global demand and weak consumer spending, as per the official data released Monday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.3 percent, the S&P 500 Index was down 0.1 percent and the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.1 percent.

Major European indices were in green as investor confidence was lifted by expectations that the ECB will soon announce monetary easing measures to revive the economic growth in the euro zone. London’s FTSE 100 was up 22.33 points, Germany's DAX 30 Index rose 54.89 points and France's CAC 40 advanced 24.59 points.

Asian stocks were also up as market participants were hopeful that the BoJ will announce stimulus measures to lift the Japanese economic growth.