Stock Futures Rise Ahead of CPI

New York (Nov 17)  Stock futures were higher Tuesday as investors anticipated data on consumer inflation, earnings from retailers, and a number of speeches from Federal Reserve officials.

S&P 500 futures rose 0.37%, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures climbed 0.45%, and Nasdaq futures gained 0.42%.

 The Consumer Price Index, after declining for two months because of lower energy and import costs, is forecast to increase by 0.2% in October. CPI will be released at 8:30 a.m. EST.

 Industrial production for October will be released at 9:15 a.m. and is expected to show a slight gain of 0.1% after two months of declines.

 The NABH Housing Market Index for November is scheduled for release at 10 a.m.

 Fed governors Jerome Powell and Daniel Tarullo will make appearances Tuesday as will former Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, who will speak at the Brookings Institution in Washington on Wednesday afternoon.

 West Texas Intermediate crude oil fell early Tuesday by 1.32% to $41.19 a barrel.

Walmart (WMT - Get Report) shares surged more than 3% in premarket trading after the world's biggest retailer's third-quarter earnings of $1.03 a share beat forecasts. Revenue of $117.41 billion missed forecasts by a slight margin.

Home Depot (HD - Get Report) shares jumped almost 2% in premarket trading after the home-improvement retailer's third-quarter earnings and revenue topped Wall Street forecasts. Same-store sales in the period rose 7.3%.

TJX (TJX - Get Report)   and Dick's Sporting Goods (DKS - Get Report)   are expected to post earnings before Tuesday's opening bell.

Urban Outfitters (URBN - Get Report)   was plunging nearly 10% in premarket trading. The company reported earnings of of 42 cents a share, meeting analysts expectations, but revenue of $825 million came in below estimates.

Source: TheStreet