Dow futures up triple digits as oil, yuan stabilize
U.S. stock index futures pointed to a higher open on Tuesday, attempting further recovery from the sharply lower start to the year, as oil prices and the Chinese yuan stabilized.
Dow futures traded about 150 points higher as of 9:21 a.m. ET. Brent crude futures (Intercontinental Exchange Europe: @LCO.1) topped $32 a barrel and WTI crude (New York Mercantile Exchange: @CL.1) traded above $31.50 a barrel.
The U.S. dollar traded slightly higher against major world currencies, with the euro near $1.085 and the yen at 117.69 yen against the greenback.
Overnight, the Chinese central bank set the yuan mid-point fix at 6.5628 against the dollar (Exchange:CNY=), similar to Monday's fix of 6.5626.
Read More China, oil still hanging over Wall Street
"Maybe a little stability is (helping) to bring out some buyers in the context of an oversold market," said Peter Boockvar, chief market analyst at The Lindsey Group. He is watching whether the gains will be sustained throughout Tuesday's session, or attract selling.
Stocks in Europe rebounded , trading more than 1.5 percent higher as oil prices recovered from session lows on Tuesday, while Chinese stocks closed slightly higher after wavering between gains and losses on Tuesday , following a sharp plunge Monday.
"Global investors still remain firmly in risk-averse mode in the near-term as the market focuses switches back to the ongoing slide in the price of crude oil towards $30/barrel. The price of copper (CEC:Commodities Exchange Centre: @HG.1) has also fallen to new cyclical lows, reinforcing investor concerns over the outlook for global growth," Lee Hardman, currency analyst at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, said in a report on Tuesday.
Barclays Research said on Tuesday that it had lowered its 2016 average forecasts for both Brent and WTI to $37 in 2016, citing the marked deterioration in the commodities market environment since the start of the year.
Earnings season began this week, with 11 S&P 500 (^GSPC)-listed companies and two Dow Jones industrial average (Dow Jones Global Indexes: .DJI) components due to report by the end of Friday. The heavy part of the reporting season will begin on Tuesday next week and continue into the first week of February.
On Tuesday, results are due from CSX Corporation (CSX) after markets closes.
Alcoa shares (AA) initially jumped in after-hours trading on Monday after it reported mixed quarterly results. The industry bellwether posted earnings of 4 cents per share, topping analysts' expectations. However, it fell just short of predictions on revenue, coming in at $5.25 billion.
In other stock-related news, Starbucks (SBUX) said on Tuesday that it aimed to open 500 stores in China this year, despite the slowdown in the country that has hit some global retailers.
Read More Early movers: DRI, AA, LULU, INTC, BA, MYL, TWX, SBUX, AAPL & more
Tuesday's economic data include the November JOLTS (job openings) report, plus this month's Federal Reserve's Beige Book, which tracks current economic conditions. There will also be the Treasury budget for December, plus the weekly MBA mortgage index and crude oil inventories.
In addition, Richmond Federal Reserve President Jeffrey Lacker will speak on 2016's economic outlook in Columbia, South Carolina on Tuesday. The event will begin at 3 p.m. ET.
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