U.S. stocks set to open higher with fresh earnings reports on tap; Fed awaited

Wall Street is expected to break a five-session row of losses on Tuesday, shrugging off China’s continuing fall, as market players now concentrate on the Federal Reserve meeting on Wednesday, with a statement due at 2 p.m.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 64 points, or 0.4%, to 17,460, while those for the S&P 500 index added 8.60 points, or 0.4%, to 2,073. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index added 13.50 points, or 0.3%, to 4,536.25.

The gains came after all three averages closed firmly lower on Monday, due to a global selloff that was spurred by a grinding drop in Chinese equities.

On Monday the Shanghai Composite Index lost 8.5% - the largest one-day loss in eight years.

The Chinese benchmark continued its decline on Tuesday, although the daily loss was smaller at 1.7%.

The FOMC meeting which will begin later today and finish with a statement on Wednesday is highly anticipated.

Fed Chair Janet Yellen has previously hinted that a rate liftoff is likely to take place at the end of the year, possibly as early as September. However, expectations for a September move have faded recently, partly because of the market turmoil in China and a slide in oil prices.

Meanwhile, market players will also await other data.

Consumer-confidence numbers for July are due at 10 a.m. Eastern Time.

At 9 a.m. Eastern, the Case-Shiller home-price index for May will be out, followed by the Markit services purchasing-managers index for July at 9:45 a.m. Eastern.

The Richmond Fed business activity survey for July comes out at 10 a.m. Eastern.

Earnings from Ford Motor Co. and Pfizer Inc., among others, were also in focus.