NYSE 14Oct2013
New York Stock Exchange. Reuters

Stocks look set for yet another positive start on Tuesday, after failing to sustain gains promised before the start of trade in the previous trading session.

Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were up 0.18 percent while futures on the S&P 500 were up 0.15 percent and those on the Nasdaq were up 0.16 percent. On Monday, the Dow had slipped 0.16 percent while the S&P 500 fell 0.49 percent and the Nasdaq dropped 1.18 percent.

On the earnings calendar, Walgreen Co. (NYSE:WAG) is scheduled to declare earnings before markets open while apparel maker PVH Corp. (NYSE:PVH) is scheduled to announce earnings after market hours.

On the data front, the S&P Case-Shiller Home Price Index for January is due at 9 a.m. EDT while data on new home sales in February is scheduled to be released at 10 a.m. The Conference Board's consumer confidence index for March is also due at 10 a.m.

In Europe, markets were trading up despite a hint of gloom cast by an IFO survey that showed German businesses were taking a slightly dim view of the future six months down the road. The Stoxx Europe 600 index was up 0.87 percent while the FTSE 100 was up 1.05 percent. Germany’s DAX-30 was up 1.07 percent while France's CAC-40 rose 1.1 percent.

In Asia, markets were mostly weak, with Japan's Nikkei-225 falling 0.36 percent and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 slipped 0.19 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 0.52 percent while the Shanghai Composite inched up 0.05 percent. South Korea’s Kospi was down 0.22 percent and India’s BSE Sensex ended the day down 0.27 percent.