LONDON (ShareCast) - US stock futures edged higher before the open on Wall Street as Friday's underwhelming monthly jobs report pushed back expectations for a rate hike by the Federal Reserve.
"With the Fed apparently now looking past June for the rate hike, the US markets should be stronger than they are despite their recent performance being incredibly muddled (due to the strength of the US dollar)," said Connor Campbell, a market analyst with Spreadex

At 1245 BST, futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average inched up 0.4% to 17,842, while those for the S&P 500 index rose 0.3% to 2,084.50.

New York Fed President William Dudley provided stock markets with a further lift when he reiterated on Monday that any decision to hike rates will be data dependent.

On Tuesday, stock futures were supported by deal activity after parcel delivery giant FedEx Corp said it will buy Dutch logistics company TNT Express as it seeks to expand its European operations.

Data for Tuesday includes February job openings and consumer credit for February. Minneapolis Federal Reserve President Narayana Kocherlakota will speak in Bismarck, North Dakota.

The dollar index was up 0.8% at 97.63 recovering from falls it produced after the staggeringly low non-farm figure last week. Elsewhere, gold prices were down 0.3% at $1211 per troy ounce while WTI crude futures fell 0.3% to $51.68 per barrel.

In other company news, consultancy firm Accenture and tech company Alcatel-Lucent on Tuesday announced a four-year agreement with telecoms group Telefonica to deploy Alcatel-Lucent's Motive Customer Experience Management software for Telefonica residential customers in European and Latin American countries.

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