US pre-open: Futures point to small gains ahead of earnings onslaught

Wall Street futures were pointing to some modest gains at the opening bell as earnings from some of America's major banks began to roll in.

As of 1210 BST, Dow futures were up 0.37%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures had the indices opening 0.32% and 0.28% higher, respectively.

The Dow closed 29.23 points weaker on Monday following a report that revealed China wanted to hold further discussions with the US before signing Donald Trump's so-called "phase one" trade deal.

But come Tuesday morning, the spokesman for China's Ministry of Commerce, Geng Shuang, said that Washington and Beijing were on the same page regarding the mini trade agreement reached on 11 October.

Nevertheless, according to a Bloomberg report, in order for China to hit its target for annual purchases of US agricultural goods, it would need to roll-back some of its retaliatory tariffs and it was not prepared to do so unless the US did the same.

For Oanda's Craig Erlam: "While traders weren't impressed by the lack of consistency in the messaging from both sides, it does still look like something will be signed before the year is out that will de-escalate the trade war for the first time. The details will be key though."

Elsewhere, the White House said it had decided to stop trade negotiations with Turkey and instead, opted to raise its steel prices to 50% following an earlier announcement that the US would be removing all its troops from Turkey's northern border with Syria.

In corporate news, JP Morgan shares were gaining nearly 2.0% after the largest lender in the US by market value blasted by analysts' forecasts for its third quarter, helped by record revenues in its investment banking arm.

Goldman Sachs's quarterly earnings on the other hand fell short on both the top and bottom line.

BlackRock, Citigroup, and Wells Fargo were still due to post their latest quarterly figures as the earnings season kicked into full swing. United Airlines will post its most recent earnings after the close.

On the data front, October's New York Empire State manufacturing index will be released at 1330 BST.

Federal Reserve heads Raphael Bostic, Esther George and Mary Daly were scheduled to deliver speeches throughout the course of the day.