US pre-open: Stocks to rise ahead of earnings, retail sales; Syria worries recede for now

US stocks pointed to a positive open on Wall Street on Monday as investors kept an eye on geopolitics after the US-led airstrikes in Syria at the weekend, with more earnings and data on tap.

At 1120 BST, Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 and Nasdaq future were all 0.6% higher.

Over the weekend, the US, France and Britain launched more than 100 missiles targeting facilities in Syria, a significant number of which Syria claims to have shot down, in what was called a "one time shot" by the Pentagon.

Oanda analyst Craig Erlam said: "It was feared that a Western response could trigger an escalation in the region, further damaging relations with Russia in the process due to its backing of the Assad regime. Instead, an apparent one-off limited strike by the three countries on chemical weapons sites in an attempt to prevent further attacks in the future has not yet stoked such fears and instead, investors appear relatively at ease.

"Of course, we’ll find out in the coming days just what the response to the strikes will be, assuming there will be any. For now, investors appear at ease with the situation and as long as no further escalation occurs, attention may now switch to other matters such as first quarter earnings season which got underway late last week."

Earnings will be in focus again after JPMorgan, Wells Fargo and Citigroup failed to impress last week with their numbers, with Bank of America slated to report before the open. After the close, meanwhile, Netflix will release its latest earnings.

Elsewhere, US-listed shares of Shire could be active after the company, for whom the boss of Japanese drug maker Takeda is reportedly readying a £35bn bid, said it had agreed to sell its oncology business to Servier for $2.4bn in cash.

There was also a fair bit of news due on the data front, with the New York Empire State manufacturing index and retail sales at 1330 BST and business inventories and the NAHB housing market index at 1500 BST.

In addition, investors will be eyeing a speech by Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic at the Shoals Chamber of Commerce in Florence, Alabama and an appearance by Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan at the International Economic Forum of the Americas' World Strategic Forum in Florida.

Any headlines from the White House will also be watched after former FBI director James Comey said in an interview with ABC News over the weekend that Donald Trump was "morally unfit" to be president.