U.S futures were pointed higher across the board Tuesday morning with the S&P 500, Nasdaq and Dow Jones Industrial Average each in the green before the opening bell.
World markets were also in the green, for the most part, Tuesday with the Shanghai Composite rising 0.2% and the Hang Seng ending the session even. The Nikkei was the lone Asian market in the red, falling 0.6%. In Europe stocks were rising sharply with the FTSE 100 gaining 0.5%, the Dax rising 0.8% and the CAC 40 climbing 0.6% with about three and a half hours left in trading across the Atlantic.
Crude prices were falling before the market opened with industry standard Brent crude futures for October delivery losing 0.8% to $48.75 per barrel while West Texas crude futures declined 0.7% to $47.07 per barrel.
In U.S. market news, Best Buy (BBY) shares were climbing about 14% in premarket trading Tuesday after the Richfield, Minn.-based electronics retailer beat top- and bottom-line earnings expectations for its second quarter. Earnings of $0.57 per share for the period topped consensus estimates by about 33% while sales of $8.5 billion beat forecasts by about 2%. "Our teams delivered a strong second quarter, with better-than-expected revenue and profitability in both our Domestic and International businesses," CEO Hubert Joly said in a statement. "We saw continued positive momentum in our online sales -- delivering a second straight quarter of nearly 24% growth. We also continued to deliver cost savings and drive efficiencies in the business, a discipline that is critical to our ability to invest in our future."
Toll Brothers (TOL) shares were falling more than 2% before the bell following the luxury homebuilder's latest earnings release. The company reported a 58% increase in net income to $105.5 million, or $0.62 per share, from $66.7 million a year ago as revenue rose 23% to $1.27 billion. But Wall Street analysts were expecting the company to report earnings of $0.63 per share on revenue of $1.25 billion.
J.M. Smucker (SJM) shares were rising slightly Tuesday after the company reported a first-quarter net profit of $170 million, or $1.86 per share vs. analysts' expectations of $1.75 per share. Revenue for the period fell 7% year over year to $1.82 billion, falling short of $188 billion expectations. For the year, the company expects to earn between $7.60 and $7.75 per share.
Shares of agrochemical giant Monsanto (MON) were also up about 4% before the opening bell on news that German peer Bayer AG (BAYRY) is in advanced talks of acquiring Monsanto, Bloomberg News has reported. Citing people familiar with the matter, Bloomberg said Bayer CEO Werner Baumann has been in "a series of constructive meetings in recent weeks" with Monsanto's management, noting the companies aim to build "the world's largest producer of seeds and pesticides" and that a deal could be ironed out within the next two weeks.
