Futures on major US stock indices point to a flat opening on Tuesday ahead of reports on home prices and consumer confidence.

Futures on the S&P 500 are up 0.05 percent, futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average are up 0.06 percent and Nasdaq100 futures are up 0.07 percent.

Investors are likely to focus on the latest batch of data including Conference Board consumer confidence index and S&P/CaseShiller house price index.

S&P/CaseShiller house price index for the month of January will be released before the market opens and is expected to have dropped by 3.8 percent after it declined 4.0 percent in the previous month.

The Conference Board will release its consumer confidence index for the month of March after the market opens. Economists are predicting that confidence may decline to 70.3 from 70.8 of previous month.

“Consumer sentiment has been helped by employment gains and improved performance in equity markets. However, recent increases in gasoline prices likely weighed on sentiment in March,” Credit Agricole Research said in a research note.

On the corporate front, Lennar Corp, McCormick & Company Inc and Walgreen will report their quarterly earnings before the opening bell.

On Monday, US stocks surged as market-friendly comments by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke boosted sentiment. In a speech to the National Association for Business Economics on Monday, Bernanke stated that the recent job growth appeared to be a reversal of the unusually large layoffs that occurred during late 2008 and 2009.

He also noted that further improvements in the labor market are dependent on faster economic growth, a comment traders interpreted as an indication that the Fed's loose monetary policy is set to continue and further easing is still on the table.

European stock markets are currently trading higher with FTSE100 up by 1.67 points, DAX30 up by 42.81 points and CAC 40 up by 9.41 points.

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