US pre-open: Stocks to rise as Bank of America, Netflix report

US stock futures pointed to a positive open on Wall Street on Tuesday as investors eyed the release of more key earnings, with banking behemoth Bank of America and streaming giant Netflix in the frame.

At 1150 BST, Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq futures were up 0.3%, while S&P 500 futures were 0.2% firmer.

On the corporate front, Bank of America shares are likely to see active trading following the release of its first-quarter results, particularly after numbers from Goldman Sachs and Citigroup a day earlier left investors disappointed.

Lukman Otunuga, research analyst at FXTM, said: "Market expectations over this quarterly reporting season being the weakest in three years has left investors wondering how much upside remains for stocks.

"For proper context, the S&P500 is still just less than 1% away from its record high, while the MSCI Asia Pacific Index has already climbed by some 11% so far in 2019. Even as the catalyst to drive risk sentiment over the near-term revolves around the current US earnings season, equity bulls may have to turn their attention elsewhere to find reasons to send stocks higher.

"With lingering concerns over slowing global growth, US-China trade developments and Brexit among the many other geopolitical risk factors straining sentiment, the options for equity bulls look limited."

Johnson & Johnson was also in focus after its first-quarter update, which saw the company lifts its sales growth guidance for 2019 to between 2.5% and 3.5% from 2% to 3%.

Elsewhere, shares in UnitedHealth looked set to rally at the open after the health insurer's first-quarter earnings and revenue came in ahead of analysts' expectations and it lifted its profit outlook for the year.

Earnings are still due before the open from BlackRock, while Netflix is slated to report after the close, along with IBM.

CMC Markets analyst David Madden pointed out that Netflix is still the dominant player in its sector despite Apple’s new streaming service, and news that Disney will be launching its own service towards the back end of the year.

"As always, traders will be keeping an eye on the new subscriber rate, in particular, the growth rate outside North America," he said.

On the macroeconomic calendar, industrial production and capacity utilisation are at 1415 BST, while the NAHB housing market index is at 1500 BST.