Wall Street to open higher on data, Home Depot results

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks were poised for a higher open on Tuesday, putting the S&P 500 on track for a second straight day of gains, after solid earnings from Home Depot and supportive economic data on inflation and the housing market.

Dow component Home Depot gained 3.8 percent to $86.80 in premarket trade after the world's largest home improvement retailer reported earnings and revenue that topped Wall Street expectations and raised its full-year profit forecast.

Housing starts rebounded strongly in July, as groundbreaking surged 15.7 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual 1.09-million unit pace to halt two straight months of declines and top expectations for a 969,000-unit rate.

In addition, the Consumer Price Index edged up 0.1 percent last month, in line with expectations, after increasing 0.3 percent in June, which could give the Federal Reserve reason to keep interest rates low for a while.

The S&P 500 <.SPX> closed at its highest level since July 28 to move within 1 percent of a record high. The Nasdaq <.IXIC> finished at its highest since March 2000 on Monday, buoyed by increasing homebuilder confidence, a flurry of M&A activity and hopes for easing tensions in Ukraine.

But sparks of conflict remained in the region, with fighting taking place on Tuesday in the center of Luhansk, near Ukraine's border with Russia, between government forces and separatist rebels who have held the town since April, a Ukrainian military spokesman said.

S&P 500 e-mini futures were up 4.5 points and fair value - a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract - indicated a higher open. Dow Jones industrial average e-mini futures <1YMc1> rose 53 points and Nasdaq 100 e-mini futures added 10 points.

Elizabeth Arden tumbled 23 percent to $15.10 in premarket after the company reported the biggest quarterly loss in its history due to a steeper-than-anticipated fall in sales of celebrity perfumes.

Retailer Dick's Sporting Goods advanced 5.3 percent to $45.80 after second-quarter results topped analysts' forecasts.

Aeropostale shares jumped 11.7 percent to $3.62. The apparel retailer said it had reappointed Julian Geiger as chief executive and forecast a smaller loss than its earlier view.

(Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

WhatsAppFacebookTwitterLinkedinBeloudBluesky