Wall Street Likely To Open Higher; Market Eyes More Earnings, Fed Policy

(RTTNews) - Wall Street is likely to open the event-filled week higher as stocks look headed for a positive start Monday morning with investors continuing to digest recent earnings updates and awaiting more earnings news from top notch firms, and the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement.

U.S. Futures are trading higher. The Dow futures are gaining 0.18 percent, the S&P futures are up 0.25 percent, and the Nasdaq futures are advancing 0.35 percent.

The major averages closed on a firm note on Friday, riding on upbeat earnings announcements from Google parent Alphabet, and software major Microsoft.

The Dow surged 316.14 points or 2.0 percent to 15,927.90, the S&P 500 jumped 51.54 points or 1.0 percent to 5,099.96 and the Dow climbed 153.86 points or 0.4 percent to 38,239.66.

The Federal Reserve's two-day monetary policy meeting gets underway on Tuesday. The central bank is widely expected to hold its rates unchanged. The accompanying statement, and Fed Chair Jerome Powell's post match press conference on Wednesday will be in focus for the likely timing of interest rate cuts by the central bank.

On the earnings front, Amazon and Apple Inc. are among the top companies that are scheduled to announce their quarterly earnings this week.

In overseas trading, Asian stocks rose in thin trade on Monday, with Japanese markets closed for a holiday.

Traders looked ahead to the Federal Reserve's policy meeting on Wednesday after the central bank's preferred inflation gauge largely met expectations.

European stocks turning in a mixed performance. Among the major markets, U.K. is outperforming, with real estate stocks faring well after data showed house sales in the country rose for the seventh consecutive month in April thanks to higher demand for smaller homes.

In commodities, West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures are up marginally at $83.90 a barrel. Gold futures are gaining $6.00 at $2,353.20 an ounce.

In the currency market, the dollar is trading at 1.0715 against the Euro, after settling at 1.0693 on Friday. The dollar is down against the Japanese currency, fetching 156.35 yen a unit, compared to 158.34 yen on Friday.