Futures Climb as Traders Eye Data

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U.S. stock-index futures ticked higher Tuesday as traders mulled mixed durable goods and housing data and awaited a slew of other reports on the U.S. economy.

Today's Markets

As of 9:03 a.m. ET, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures climbed 28 points to 14414, S&P 500 futures gained 3 points to 1550 and Nasdaq 100 futures rose 6.3 points to 2790.

The markets zigzagged Monday, with traders digesting news suggesting the Cyprus bailout that utilized funds from bank deposits as a down payment would be a template for the future. However, in comments to FOX Business, several European Union officials downplayed that theory, saying the situation there "unique."

The European Union still remained a focus as banks in Cyprus remained closed until Thursday as the country worked to wind down its second-biggest lender, protect insured deposits and prevent what could still be a catastrophic bank run.

"Calm has finally descended after the turmoil of the Cyprus bailout, but the damage to investor confidence has been done,"  Chris Beauchamp, a market analyst at IG wrote in an e-mail.

Wall Street is also set to get a round of data on the U.S. economy.

The Commerce Department said orders for long-lasting goods climbed 5.7% in February from January, outpacing estimates of a 3.8% increase. Excluding the transportation segment, orders were down 0.5%, missing estimates of a 0.5% increase.

The report on long-lasting goods provides a snapshot of demand for a wide range of items and will factor into the first-quarter gross domestic product reading. Indeed, it could spark revisions to investment banks' GDP tracking estimates.

Home prices in 20 U.S. metropolitan areas rose 0.1% in January from December on a non-seasonally-adjusted basis, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller home price report. Economists expected a slightly larger increase of 0.2%. Prices climbed 8.1% from the same month in 2012, topping estimates of a 7.9% rise.

A separate report an hour later from the Commerce Department is expected to show sales of new, single-family homes to have fallen to an annualized rate of 422,000 units in February from 437,000 the month before.

The housing market has been showing signs of recovery recently, helped by low interest rates and a recovering economy. However, economists say the rebound from the collapse of the housing bubble is likely to proceed at only a modest pace.

There is also a report due out at 10:00 a.m. ET from the Conference Board that is forecast to show consumer confidence falling slightly this month.

Elsewhere, oil and gasoline futures pushed higher. The benchmark U.S. crude oil contract rose 53 cents, or 0.56%, to $95.34 a barrel. Wholesale New York Harbor gasoline edged up 0.17% to $3.077 a gallon. In metals, gold fell $7.40, or 0.47%, to $1,599 a troy ounce.

Foreign Markets

The Euro Stoxx 50 fell 0.01% to 2649, the English FTSE 100 rose 0.1% to 6286 and the German DAX gained 0.19% to 7885.

In Asia, the Japanese Nikkei 225 slumped 0.6% to 12472 and the Chinese Hang Seng climbed 0.27% to 22311.