US stocks likely to recover on earning reports from Goldman, UnitedHealth

Wall Street was set to recover on Tuesday as upbeat earnings reports from blue-chip companies helped ease jitters over the impact of an ongoing U.S.-China trade war and other global issues on corporate profits.

Shares of Morgan Stanley rose 2.6 per cent and Goldman Sachs 1.5 per cent in premarket trading after the two lenders wrapped up earnings from the top six U.S. banks, with better-than-expected quarterly profits, driven in part by higher equities trading revenue.

UnitedHealth rose 2.1 per cent after the health insurer beat estimates for quarterly profit and boosted earnings forecast for the year as it added more members to its health plans.

In what could be a lift for the recently turbulent technology sector, Adobe climbed 5.9 per cent after the software company reaffirmed its current-quarter forecast and provided 2019 targets that eased concerns over the impact of a recent acquisition.

"A couple of inputs that caused a selloff off in the last two weeks such as rising interest rates, higher oil prices and the dollar have calmed down to rational levels and the market may be able to positively respond to that as we work our way through the earnings season," said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B. Riley FBR in New York.

"Real focus today is on Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and Adobe from last night."

Strong quarterly earnings from some of the biggest U.S. companies would help soothe nerves of investors who have been fretting over the impact of tariffs, rising interest rates and wage growth among others on corporate profits that have weighed on U.S. stocks this month.

Still, earnings at S&P 500 companies are expected to have risen 21.6 per cent in the third quarter, a slowdown from the past two quarters, according to I/B/E/S data from Refinitiv.

At 8:38 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 191 points, or 0.76 per cent. S&P 500 e-minis were up 19 points, or 0.69 per cent and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 67.5 points, or 0.95 per cent.

Walmart swung between gains and losses after lowering its earnings forecast for the year and saying its e-commerce growth next year would be slower than the current fiscal year. The retailer's shares were little changed.

Hogan said the focus will certainly be on large-cap tech stocks, with Adobe gaining premarket and reports coming from IBM and Netflix later in the day.

Netflix shares advanced 1.6 per cent ahead of its earnings report, expected after the bell. The video streaming company will be the first to issue results among the high-flying FAANG group of stocks, which were at the centre of last week's selloff.

At 9:15 a.m. ET (1:15 p.m. GMT), industrial production data from the Federal Reserve is likely to show a 0.2 per cent rise in September, lower than its August reading of a 0.4 per cent rise.