Although traders have been encouraged by earnings, they are still worried about inflation. Brendan McDermid/Reuters
After the benchmark indices rose the previous day, US futures edged up Tuesday.
Fears about inflation, central bank and Evergrande have been dispelled by a strong earnings season.
As the launch of the first bitcoin futures exchange traded fund was announced, the crypto world was thrilled.
US futures rose on Monday, as investors balanced strong earnings with worries about rising inflation.
S&P 500 futures rose 0.26 percent after the index gained 0.34% over the previous day. Futures for Nasdaq 100 were 0.25 percent higher, while Dow Jones futures rose 0.19%.
European stocks also saw small gains with the Stoxx 600 only slightly up. China's CSI 300 grew 0.98% overnight while Tokyo's Nikkei 225 climbed 0.65%.
Stocks have fluctuated over the past two months due to investors' concerns about price rises and the possibility of less central bank stimulation.
However, equities have been supported so far by strong third-quarter earnings seasons. The strongest results were posted by US banks.
FactSet, a data company, said that companies' profit margins were strong in the third quarter. They are on track to reach their third highest level since 2008.
John Butters, senior earnings analyst for FactSet, stated that "more S&P 500 companies beat [earnings-per-share] estimates for third quarter than average and beat EPS estimates with a greater margin than average."
Earnings season continues Tuesday with Netflix and Johnson & Johnson reporting their latest figures.
Investors remain concerned about the impact of inflation on central bank policy and are still jittery. Andrew Bailey, the Bank of England Governor, gave a clear signal that the BoE will likely raise interest rates soon in order to address strong price rises. This is the first major central bank to do this.
The crisis at China's Evergrande is another concern. This stressed property developer owes over $300 billion. Although it received a Hong Kong coupon payment Tuesday, it has not yet received a number of recent installments of offshore bonds.
Barclays and UBS lowered their 2021 growth forecasts of China Monday. They said that the Evergrande crisis was spreading and weighing down investment.
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The yield on the US Treasury's 10-year Treasury note, despite inflation concerns, has remained steady over the past few days. The yield was at 1.584% on Tuesday, which is roughly the same as Monday's 1.62%.
However, the possibility of higher interest rates has pushed shorter maturity bond yields up sharply. On Tuesday, the yield on the 3-year Treasury Note was 0.701%. This is slightly lower than Monday, but still close to its highest level since the outbreak.
Oil prices rose as global energy shortages forced users to turn back to fossil fuels. Brent crude rose 0.9% to $84.92, the highest level since January 2018. WTI crude oil was 0.99% higher at $84.92 per barrel, its highest level since January 2018.
After rising sharply in the recent days in anticipation for the launch of the first bitcoin futures exchange traded fund, Bitcoin was still flat at $62,100.
Edward Moya (Oanda senior market analyst) said that "the cryptoverse is about get bigger now that the first US-bi bitcoin-linked ETF launches on Tuesday."
He said that "Cryptocurrencies now play a greater role on Wall Street, and that has brought Bitcoin within striking distance to record high territory." In April, Bitcoin reached a record close to $65,000.
