LDN - Business

Futures higher as focus shifts to earnings

[October 03, 2017] (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures were slightly higher on Tuesday, a day after all the three main indexes hit new all-time highs, with investors turning their attention to the upcoming third-quarter corporate earnings.

* Third-quarter earnings for S&P 500 companies are expected to increase 6.2 percent from a year earlier, according to Thomson Reuters research, after rising a better-than-expected 12.3 percent in the second quarter.

* U.S. stocks started the fourth quarter on a strong note on Monday after data pointed to underlying strength in the economy.

* The encouraging data helped world shares touch their latest record highs on Tuesday, while lifting the dollar to its loftiest in 1-1/2 months.

* Gold fell to its lowest in seven weeks on Tuesday after the data reinforced expectations of another interest rate rise in the United States this year.

* Oil steadied on Tuesday, as speculators took profits on some large positions that have built up in the last couple of weeks.

* Automakers are likely to take the center stage as they report their monthly sales data. Analysts expect September auto sales to be highest in 2017, largely due to Americans in hurricane-ravaged cities replacing their damaged vehicles.

* A retiree armed with multiple assault rifles strafed an outdoor country music festival in Las Vegas from a high-rise hotel window on Sunday, slaughtering at least 59 people before killing himself in the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.

* Shares of Tesla were down 2 percent after the luxury electric vehicle maker said "production bottlenecks" had left the company behind its planned ramp-up for the new Model 3 mass-market sedan.

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Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., September 27, 2017. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

* Lennar Corp's shares were up about 3 percent after the No.2 U.S. homebuilder reported a higher-than-expected quarterly profit.

* Shares of micro-cap drug developer Endocyte jumped for the second straight day after inking a licensing deal for its prostate cancer drug.

* Tile Shop Holding shares plunged 30 percent premarket after the natural stone retailer scrapped its 2017 forecast.

* Federal Reserve Board Governor Jerome Powell scheduled to speak on "Regulatory Reform" at a Reuters Conversation on U.S. Financial Regulation in Washington.

* Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan said on Monday that there is no need to wait for inflation to actually get to, or even begin to rise back to, the Fed's 2-percent target before the central bank raises rates again.

Futures snapshot at 6:56 a.m. EDT:

* Dow e-minis were up 32 points, or 0.14 percent, with 17,661 contracts changing hands.

* S&P 500 e-minis were up 1.75 points, or 0.07 percent, with 75,503 contracts traded.

* Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 6.25 points, or 0.1 percent, on volume of 18,144 contracts.

(Reporting by Ankur Banerjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)

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