US Stock Futures Point To Positive Open; Q1 Earnings, Economic Data To Be In Focus

Following three days of losses, stocks look set to open higher on Tuesday as first-quarter earnings and economic data continue to be drivers of sentiment on Wall Street.

Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were slightly up 0.07 percent while futures on the S&P 500 were up 0.1 percent and those on the Nasdaq were up 0.18 percent. On Monday, the Dow ended the session down 1.02 percent and the S&P 500 fell 1.08 percent while the Nasdaq dropped 1.16 percent.

On the earnings calendar, America's biggest aluminum producer, Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA), is scheduled to announce first-quarter earnings after market hours. On the economy and data front, minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee, or FOMC, meeting are scheduled to be released on Wednesday while jobless claims data are expected Thursday, and numbers on Producer Price Index, or PPI, and consumer sentiment are scheduled for Friday.

In Europe, markets continued to be weak with the Stoxx Europe 600 index down 0.18 percent while the FTSE 100 was down 0.49 percent. Germany’s DAX-30 fell 0.17 percent while France's CAC-40 was down 0.19 percent.

In Asia, markets were mixed with Japan's Nikkei-225 falling 1.36 percent and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 slipped 0.06 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.98 percent and the Shanghai Composite climbed 1.92 percent. South Korea’s Kospi was up 0.17 percent. Markets in India were closed for a local holiday.