Wall St indexes set to open higher on Mideast de-escalation hopes, earnings in focus

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By Niket Nishant and Avinash P

April 14 (Reuters) – Wall Street’s main indexes were on course to open higher on Tuesday after reports of fresh efforts to ease the Middle East conflict boosted sentiment, with traders also assessing corporate earnings and the March producer price data.

Delegations from the U.S. and Iran could resume talks in Pakistan to end the war this week, sources told Reuters. This comes after U.S. President Donald Trump said Iran had been in touch and wanted to make a deal, but he would not agree to any outcome that allows Tehran to have a nuclear weapon.

The market has been sensitive to developments in the region, with even tentative signs of an off-ramp sufficient to encourage investors eager for positive news.

At 08:34 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were up 25 points, or 0.05%, S&P 500 E-minis added 18.5 points, or 0.26%, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis rose 128.5 points, or 0.5%.

The S&P 500 has recouped most of its losses since the start of the war, while the Nasdaq 100 logged a nine-day winning streak, its longest rally since September 2025.

“Investors seem to be buying into the notion that it may take a while, but there is an off-ramp in the future to this war,” said Art Hogan, chief ​market strategist at B Riley Wealth.

Commentary from several Federal Reserve policymakers later in the day will be closely watched for insight into how the central bank is assessing the impact of the U.S.-Iran war.

EARNINGS EYED FOR DIRECTION

A busy slate of quarterly earnings is also expected to guide the market.

“The earnings season will help investors shift their focus from the macro to the micro,” Hogan said.

BlackRock gained 1.9% in premarket trading after the asset manager reported a rise in first-quarter profit, helped by strong inflows into its exchange-traded funds and a sharp increase in performance fees.

JPMorgan and Wells Fargo declined 0.7% and 2.9%, respectively, following their first-quarter results.

Citigroup rose 1.7%, while Johnson & Johnson was down 1.2% post earnings.

“Despite a messier macro backdrop, the earnings season begins from a constructive fundamental starting point,” said Anthony Saglimbene, chief market strategist at Ameriprise Financial.

“The next few weeks of profit reports will likely need to confirm that earnings momentum is broad enough and guidance firm enough to support stock prices after a period of elevated volatility and, in some pockets, still above-average valuations.”

Meanwhile, data showed that U.S. producer prices increased less than expected in March as the cost of services was unchanged.

Among other stock movers, United Airlines and American Airlines rose 2.9% and 8.7%, respectively.

United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby pitched a potential merger with American Airlines to Trump in late February, two sources said, raising the prospect of an industry-reshaping deal.

Shares of Globalstar jumped 9.3% after Amazon.com agreed to an $11.57 billion deal to buy the satellite company.

(Reporting by Niket Nishant and Avinash P in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich and Shilpi Majumdar)