LONDON (Reuters) - Stock index futures pointed to a higher open for Wall Street on Tuesday as the corporate earnings season gathers pace, with S&P 500 futures up 0.4 percent, Nasdaq futures 0.6 percent higher, and futures for the Dow Jones industrial average up 0.3 percent by 4:56 a.m. EDT.
Kicking off the earnings season on Wall Street, aluminum firm Alcoa reported better-than-expected second quarter results after the closing bell on Monday, which raised hopes that the latest round of company earnings could exceed expectations. Its shares were up 4 percent in extended trading.
Second-quarter results from Intel Corp and Yum! Brands are expected on Tuesday, with JPMorgan Chase reporting on Thursday and Bank of America, Citigroup and General Electric expected to release numbers on Friday.
Caution prevailed in the U.S. stock market on Monday, with indexes edging higher as investors kept bets to a minimum in front of earnings.
Gains in equities, however, could be capped by some nervousness over the outlook for euro zone peripheral countries after ratings agency Moody's Investor Service cut its rating on Portugal by two notches to A1.
Individual companies likely to be in focus include BP as the oil major made preparations to try sealing off its runaway well with a new cap that the British group said could, for the first time in 12 weeks, finally arrest the flow of oil spewing from the Gulf of Mexico.
The board of American International Group is set to meet this week to consider the future of its AIA unit, with a public float seen as the most likely outcome, sources said on Tuesday.
Data set for release on Tuesday include international trade numbers for May at 1230 GMT, and June's federal budget at 1800 GMT.
In Europe, the pan-European FTSEurofirt 300 index of leading shares was up 1.4 percent in mid-morning trade, on track to close higher for the sixth straight day.
In Asia, equities were pressured by reports that China will not relax tougher property measures any time soon, a move which touched a nerve among investors who are already sensitive to how much China's economy is slowing.
The International Monetary Fund's chief reiterated on Tuesday that strong growth in Asia and Latin America made it unlikely that the global economy would suffer a double-dip recession.
Boosting credit to needy small businesses is "crucial" to sustain a tepid U.S. recovery but how to do so poses a difficult policy challenge, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Monday.
(Reporting by Harpreet Bhal; Editing by Michael Shields)