Stock Futures Boosted by Eurozone Optimism

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Stock futures were firmer Tuesday, pointing to a higher Wall Street higher open, on expectations that meetings between eurozone leaders this week will bring progress on the continent's debt situation.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average were rising 24 points, or 7.36 points above fair value, at 13,253. Futures for the S&P 500 were up 2.6 points, or 1.47 points above fair value, at 1417. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 were up more than 7 points, or 4.47 points above fair value, at 2788.

On Thursday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande plan to meet in Berlin.

Later this week, Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras is expected to request an extension for Greece to fulfill its fiscal objectives as the country works through onerous reforms. Samaras is expected to meet Merkel on Friday in Berlin and Hollande in Paris on Saturday.

European markets were getting a lift Tuesday as borrowing costs declined at Spain's auction of shorter-term debt.

The FTSE in London was up 0.29% and the DAX in Germany was up 0.35%.

In other European developments, Moody's is reporting that troubled southern euro zone nations are benefiting from repair programs there.

The major U.S. stock indices halted their ascent Monday as doubts arose about whether the European Central Bank will step in to stabilize the eurozone's sovereign debt markets.

"The euro needs a friendly pat on the back from policymakers pretty much every day, or it goes off to sulk," commented Nicholas Colas, chief market strategist , at ConvergEx.

No major U.S. economic releases were expected for Tuesday.

Minutes from the Federal Reserve's late July meeting will be published Wednesday.

"Traders could easily latch on to any section that shows there was a robust debate about further easing," said Dan Greenhaus, chief global strategist at BTIG. "That would leave us in an interesting position heading into the worst month of the year, September ... this might the set up for an interesting short trade."

On the corporate front consumer products company Urban Outfitters (URBN), the Philadelphia-based specialty fashion apparel retailer, posted above-consensus quarterly results after Monday's closing bell. Shares were surging nearly 16% in premarket trading.

Nordson (NDSN), the Westlake, Ohio-based manufacturing technology company, topped Wall Street's expectations for its fiscal third-quarter results and gave a strong revenue outlook for the fourth quarter. Shares were popping more than 9%.

Church & Dwight (CHD) has agreed to buy vitamins and supplements Avid Health for $650 million in cash. Shares were rising nearly 2%.

Facebook (FB) director Peter Thiel has unloaded on most of his shares in the company following the expiration of restrictions on insider sales. Proceeds from the sales totaled more than $1 billion. Shares were down nearly 1%.

Dell (DELL) is slated to report its second-quarter results after the closing bell. Wall Street is expecting earnings of 45 cents a share on revenue of $14.643 billion in the three-month period. Shares were up 0.48%.

October crude oil futures were rising 61 cents at $96.87 a barrel and December gold futures were up $4.90 at $1,627.90 an ounce.

The benchmark 10-year Treasury was falling 2/32, raising the yield to 1.819%. The greenback was down 0.47%, according to the dollar index.

The Hong Kong Hang Seng index finished down 0.02% and the Nikkei in Japan closed down 0.16%.

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--Written by Andrea Tse in New York.



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