U.S. stock index futures rose on Tuesday, building on a day-earlier rally as investors assessed quarterly earnings, while awaiting a major tax plan from President Donald Trump.
* Trump promised last week to make “a big tax reform and tax reduction” announcement on Wednesday. The President has directed his aides to move quickly on a plan to cut the corporate income tax rate to 15 percent from 35 percent, a Trump administration official said on Monday.
* Trump also indicated his openness to delaying his push to secure funds for building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, potentially eliminating a sticking point as lawmakers worked to avoid a looming shutdown of the federal government.
* Investor sentiment took a turn over the weekend after centrist and pro-European Union candidate Emmanuel Macron won the first round of the French presidential election.
* Global stocks, including Wall Street, rallied on the outcome of the vote on Monday, while investors prepared for a busy week of corporate earnings.
* Results from corporate heavyweights, including McDonald’s (MCD.N) and Caterpillar (CAT.N), could determine whether the positive momentum in the market will continue on Tuesday.
* The Conference Board is expected to release a reading of its consumer confidence index for April at 10:00 a.m. ET (1400 GMT). A report on home prices is also due at 10:00 a.m. ET.
* Express Scripts (ESRX.O) tumbled nearly 14 percent premarket after announcing that its biggest customer, Anthem (ANTM.N), was unlikely to renew its contract, which ends in 2019.
* Biogen (BIIB.O) jumped nearly 5 percent to $290 after the drugmaker reported quarterly revenue that beat analysts’ expectations.
* Straight Path (STRP.N) jumped nearly 6 percent to $117.90 after saying it received a $104.64 per-share all-stock buyout offer from a “multi-national telecommunications company”, topping AT&T’s (T.N) $95.63 per share offer.
Futures snapshot at 6:57 a.m. ET:
* Dow e-minis 1YMc1 were up 60 points, or 0.29 percent, with 17,824 contracts changing hands.
* S&P 500 e-minis ESc1 were up 3.75 points, or 0.16 percent, with 94,118 contracts traded.
* Nasdaq 100 e-minis NQc1 were up 9.5 points, or 0.17 percent, on volume of 18,145 contracts.
(Reporting by Yashaswini Swamynathan in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D’Silva)
