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* Futures up: Dow 0.05%, S&P 0.05%, Nasdaq 0.28%
By Sruthi Shankar
Jan 7 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures signaled small
gains for Wall Street at the open on Tuesday, as investors took
comfort from the absence of fresh escalation in the standoff
between the United States and Iran.
The three main U.S. indexes on Monday rebounded from early
losses that was sparked by a rush to safe-haven assets following
the killing of a top Iranian general last week by the United
States.
"Without fresh escalation, investors cannot maintain a
heightened sense of geopolitical anxiety. The recovery of U.S.
shares yesterday set the tone for today's rebound in Asia and
Europe," Marc Chandler, chief market strategist at Bannockburn
Global Forex, wrote in a note.
Helping the tech-heavy Nasdaq futures outperform on Tuesday,
Micron Technology Inc MU.O rose 3.1% in premarket trading
after Cowen & Co upgraded the chipmaker to "outperform" on
earlier-than-expected recovery in memory market.
The brokerage also raised its rating on hard disk maker
Western Digital Corp WDC.O to "outperform". Its shares rose
2.8%.
Tesla Inc TSLA.O gained 1.9% after the company launched
its Model Y electric sports utility vehicle program at its new
Shanghai factory. At 07:27 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis 1YMc1 were up 13 points, or
0.05%. S&P 500 e-minis ESc1 were up 1.75 points, or 0.05%, and
Nasdaq 100 e-minis NQc1 were up 25 points, or 0.28%.
Investors will be closely tracking a slew of economic data
later in the day, including U.S. trade and factory goods orders
for November and the Institute for Supply Management's services
sector activity index for December. After the index slowed to
53.9 points in November, economists expect it to stabilize at
54.5 points in the last month.
Market participants are also awaiting the fourth-quarter
reporting season, which begins in earnest next week. Earnings
for S&P 500 companies are expected to dip 0.5%, the second
consecutive quarter of decline, according to Refinitiv IBES
data.