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 Dow futures expiring in September rose 25, or 0.12 percent, to 13,174, while S&P 500 futures rose 3.20, or 0.22 percent, to 1,452.30. Nasdaq 100 index futures added 1.75, or 0.09 percent, to 1,899.50.
BJ's Wholesale Club Inc. said second-quarter profit spiked 37 percent, topping Wall Street expectations. The company, which operates 175 warehouse-style stores in the U.S., said sales rose 8 percent.
Staples Inc., the largest U.S. office supplies retailer, reported a higher quarterly profit on Tuesday, matching Wall Street projections. However, it issued a cautious forecast for the rest of the year.
Target Corp. was expected to report a second-quarter profit of 80 cents a share.
Last week, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. posted higher profit from the year-ago period. However, the world's largest retailer cut its 2007 earnings forecast because of weak consumer spending.
Capital One, one of the nation's largest credit card and financial companies, said after the market closed Monday that it will eliminate 1,900 jobs because of weaker business conditions. The announcement follows similar moves by Bear Stearns Cos., Wells Fargo Inc., Countrywide Financial Corp., and a spate of smaller mortgage lenders.
Wall Street remains worried that a broadening credit crisis -- triggered by distressed subprime loans
-- will curtail borrowing to the point where it hurts companies across the economy. The Federal Reserve has taken a number of steps to prop up the nation's financial institutions, including injecting more liquidity into the banking industry and cutting the discount rate. But many on Wall Street want the Fed to do more
-- including lowering the more important federal funds rate.
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 Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson will meet Tuesday afternoon with Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd. They are scheduled to discuss the market's recent turbulence, and what steps can be taken to stabilize the economy.
Overseas, Britain's FTSE 100 fell 0.15 percent, Germany's DAX index rose 0.09 percent, and France's CAC-40 rose 0.14 percent. In Asia, Japan's Nikkei stock average rose 1.07 percent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 0.62 percent.
China's central bank said Tuesday it would raise its benchmark lending and deposit rates to curb inflation. The often-volatile Shanghai Composite Exchange rose 1.03 percent.
There are no major economic reports scheduled to be released during the session. However, investors might begin to place bets ahead of the Commerce Department's release of its monthly measure of durable good orders on Thursday, and then a report on new home sales on Friday.
Oil prices fell 36 cents to $70.76 in premarket trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Investors have been wary as Hurricane Dean picks up pace toward Mexico, where major oil companies like state-run Pemex Oil have already battened down oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico.
[Associated Press; by Joe Bel
Bruno]
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or
redistributed.
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