By Leah Schnurr
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks were set to open higher on Tuesday, buoyed by earnings that were not as dire as some had feared and hopes for swift action from new Treasury secretary Timothy Geithner to prevent the year-long recession from worsening.
In the morning's round of quarterly results, U.S. Steel Corp
That came on the heels of results from American Express Co
Geithner won confirmation as Treasury secretary late on Monday and promised quick action to deal with the recession-hit U.S. economy.
"I get the general sense that people are hopeful about something more significant than what we've seen from (former Treasury secretary Henry) Paulson," said Barry Ritholtz, chief market strategist at Fusion IQ in New York.
"You definitely got the sense there wasn't a full plan or strategy and people are hopeful that we'll actually have an intelligent plan instead of panic (and) careening from one concept to another."
S&P 500 futures rose 8.90 points and were above fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures climbed 85 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures rose 7.75 points.
Stocks <.DJI> ended higher on Monday, lifted by optimism over a $68 billion takeover in the drug industry that offset a grim warning about the year ahead from Caterpillar
The broad S&P 500 <.SPX> is down more than 7 percent for the year so far but it is up about 11 percent from the 11-year lows hit in late November. The S&P started the year up about 20 percent from those lows.
Despite some bright spots, analysts have called the earnings season overall a weak one, as expected, with companies warning of more pain to come and making deep job cuts in the wake of the global economic downturn.
On the downside, DuPont Co
(Editing by James Dalgleish)
