U.S. stock futures rise as investors refocus on earnings

[July 28, 2015]   By Tanya Agrawal

(Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures rose on Tuesday as investors refocused on corporate earnings a day after a tumble in the Chinese stock market sent global markets lower.

* Wall Street sank on Monday, for the fifth straight day, after the steepest decline in Chinese stocks in eight years increased concerns that cooling growth in the world's No. 2 economy could hurt China's trading partners.

* After Chinese stocks plunged more than 8 percent, the country's top securities regulator said Beijing would keep buying shares to stabilize the market but the Chinese markets continued to fall on Tuesday.

* With second-quarter reports well under way, analysts expect overall earnings of S&P 500 companies to dip 0.3 percent, below the 3-percent decline expected at the start of July, according to Thomson Reuters data.

* Such results could inflate already relatively pricey valuations. The S&P 500 is trading near 16.9 times forward 12-month earnings, above the 10-year median of 14.7 times, according to StarMine data.

* Some of the big names scheduled to report on Tuesday include Twitter <TWTR.N>, Gilead <GILD.O> and Yelp <YELP.K> after the close.

* The U.S. Federal Reserve begins its two-day policy meeting. No move on rates is expected this week, but close attention will be paid to whether Fed chair Janet Yellen signals September or December as the most likely date for "liftoff".

* Data expected during the day includes the index of U.S. consumer attitudes at 10 a.m. ET (1400 GMT). The index is expected to have fallen to 100.0 in July from 101.4 in June.

* Baidu <BIDU.O> shares slumped 10.4 percent to $177 in premarket trading after China's biggest Internet search company's quarterly profit missed estimates.

* DuPont <DD.N> fell 1.9 percent to $55.60 after the chemical and crop company reduced its earnings forecast for the year.

* Ford <F.N> rose 2 percent to $14.85 after the automaker' s second-quarter earnings widely beat Wall Street expectations, based on the continued strength of its North American sales.

* Pfizer <PFE.N> was up 1 percent at $34.70 while Merck <MRK.N> rose 2.8 percent to $555 after the drugmakers' adjusted profit beat estimates even as a stronger dollar hurt revenue.

Futures snapshot at 7:14 a.m. ET:

* S&P 500 e-minis <ESc1> were up 9.75 points, or 0.47 percent, with 152,640 contracts traded.

* Nasdaq 100 e-minis <NQc1> were up 17.25 points, or 0.38 percent, on volume of 23,838 contracts.

* Dow e-minis <1YMc1> were up 78 points, or 0.45 percent, with 20,695 contracts changing hands.

(Editing by Don Sebastian)

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