U.S. stock futures are pointing higher in pre-market trading for Tuesday, October 18. The Dow Futures are at 18083.0 for a gain of 70.00 points. The S&P 500 Futures are at 2132.75 for a gain of 9.75 points. The Nasdaq Futures are higher at 4829.25 for a gain of 26.00 points. The Russell Futures are at 1218.2 for a gain of 8.60 points.

In overnight trading in the Eastern Hemisphere, Japan’s Nikkei 225 is at 16963.61 for a gain of 63.49 points or 0.38 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng is at 23394.39 for a gain of 356.85 points or 1.55 percent. China’s Shanghai Composite is at 3083.88 for a gain of 42.71 points or 1.40 percent. India’s S&P BSE Sensex is at 28050.88 for a gain of 520.91 points or 1.89 percent. In Europe, the FTSE 100 is at 7004.96 for a gain of 57.41 points or 0.83 percent. Germany’s DAX is at 10629.36 for a gain of 125.79 points or 1.20 percent. France’s CAC 40 is at 4499.36 for a gain of 49.13 points or 1.10 percent. The Stoxx Europe 600 is at 341.27 points for a gain of 3.85 points or 1.14 percent.

Tuesday’s Factors and Events

Stocks are pointing higher Tuesday with positive earnings reports after the bell on Monday helping valuations. The economic calendar for the day includes the Consumer Price Index and the Housing Market Index.

Stocks trading actively for the day include the following:

Netflix

Endo International

Alaska Air Group

Cabot Oil & Gas Corp

Chesapeake Energy

J B Hunt Transport

Hasbro

Illumina

International Business Machines

Wynn Resorts

On the earnings calendar for the day approximately 40 companies will report earnings with Dow 30 earnings reports from Goldman Sachs, Johnson and Johnson and Intel.

Monday’s Activity

U.S. market indexes were lower Monday. For the day the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 18086.40 for a loss of -51.98 points or -0.29 percent. The S&P 500 was also down, closing at 2126.50 for a loss of -6.48 points or -0.30 percent. The Nasdaq Composite closed lower at 5199.82 for a loss of -14.34 points or -0.28 percent.

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Source: DJIA, S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite. Google Finance.

Other notable index closes included the small-cap Russell 2000 Index lower at 1210.25 for a loss of -2.16 points or -0.18 percent; the S&P 600 Small-Cap Index lower at 734.99 for a loss of -1.69 points or -0.23 percent; the S&P 400 Mid-Cap Index at 1518.19 for a loss of -1.63 points or -0.11 percent; the S&P 100 Index at 944.30 for a loss of -2.59 points or -0.27 percent; the Russell 3000 Index at 1257.56 for a loss of -3.54 points or -0.28 percent; the Russell 1000 Index at 1178.14 for a loss of -3.40 points or -0.29 percent; and the Dow Jones U.S. Select Dividend Index at 600.60 for a loss of -0.62 points or -0.10 percent.