Wall Street pointed higher in muted early trading Tuesday, with a sparse slate of earnings and economic indicators on tap during a holiday-shortened week, the Associated Press reports.
Dow futures rose 0.2% before the bell Tuesday, while futures for the S&P 500 climbed 0.4%.
Outside of a handful of notable corporate earnings reports, investors will turn their attention to the latest reading on U.S. consumer confidence on Tuesday, followed by a consumer spending report on Friday that contains a measure of inflation that’s closely watched by Federal Reserve officials.
After standing pat for the fifth meeting in a row last week, most analysts are still betting on three rate cuts from the Fed this year as long as inflation continues to moderate.
Despite a string of recent reports that showed inflation remaining hotter than expected, the Federal Reserve seems to expect inflation to continue its longer-term cooling trend.
Economists are expecting that inflation as measured by personal consumption expenditures, or PCE, ticked up modestly in February.
UPS rose about 2% in premarket after the package delivery company issued a forecast that pleased investors. Ahead of its investor conference Tuesday, Atlanta-based UPS projected 2026 revenue between $108 billion and $114 billion.
Krispy Kreme jumped more than 20% after the donut chain announced an expanded partnership with McDonald’s. Later Tuesday, original meme stock GameStop, the video game retailer, reports earnings. Cruise ship operator Carnival reports earnings on Wednesday followed by drug store chain Walgreens on Thursday. U.S. markets are closed for Good Friday.
