Investing.com - U.S. stock futures pointed to a moderately higher open on Tuesday, as positive U.S. data released on Monday fuelled optimism over the strength of the economic recovery, even as the International Monetary Fund cut its 2014 growth forecast for the U.S.
Ahead of the open, the Dow 30 futures pointed to a 0.08% gain, S&P 500 futures signaled a 0.05% uptick, while the Nasdaq 100 futures indicated a 0.12% rise.
Data on Monday showed that manufacturing activity in New York state expanded more quickly than forecast in June, while a separate report showed that industrial production rose more-than-expected in May.
Separately, the IMF on Monday cut its 2014 U.S. economic growth forecast, pointing out that the unusually harsh winter along with a “still-struggling housing market” will drag on recovery.
The IMF said it now expects the U.S. economy to expand 2% in 2014, down from its forecast of 2.8% in April.
Meanwhile, concerns over the ongoing Sunni insurgency in Iraq continued to weigh on market sentiment, amid fears over the impact of higher oil prices on global economic growth.
General Electric (NYSE:GE), up 0.04% in after-hour trade, was expected to be in the spotlight as Siemens (XETRA:SIEGn) and Mitsubishi (TOKYO:8058) filed a joint rival bid for France's Alstom (PARIS:ALSO) on Monday. French President Francois Hollande was set to meet with the CEOs of the two companies later in the day.
Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) was also likely to be active, as the online retailer was preparing to unveil its own smartphone at an event in Seattle on Tuesday, in a move to push access more directly to its online store, or digital content like music, movies and games.
Elsewhere, Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) shares rallied 1.78% pre-market, still supported by news the maker of medical devices agreed to buy Covidien (NYSE:COV) for $42.9 billion in cash and stock.
Yahoo! Inc (NASDAQ:YHOO) declined in early trading on the other hand, sliding 0.46%, weighed by news rival Alibaba Group's revenue growth slowed and profit margins declined in the fourth quarter.
Other stocks likely to be in focus included Adobe Systems (NASDAQ:ADBE), scheduled to report quarterly results later in the day.
Across the Atlantic, European stock markets were higher. The DJ Euro Stoxx 50 gained 0.38%, France’s CAC 40 advanced 0.43%, Germany's DAX climbed 0.72%, while Britain's FTSE 100 added 0.19%.
During the Asian trading session, Hong Kong's Hang Seng declined 0.42%, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.29%.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to produce data on housing starts, building permits and consumer prices.