Stock futures rose marginally on Tuesday as investors digested key corporate earnings and looked to the beginning of the Federal Reserve’s policy meeting. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 45 points, or 0.1%. S&P 500 futures rose 0.2%, while Nasdaq-100 futures added about 0.3%. CrowdStrike shares fell more than 3% before the open after CNBC reported that Delta Air Lines hired attorney David Boies to seek damages from CrowdStrike and Microsoft after an outage this month led to thousands of flight cancellations. Merck shares fell more than 3.5% in premarket trading as weaker-than-expected guidance for the full year overshadowed a strong second-quarter report. Pfizer, meanwhile, climbed roughly 1.5% on stronger-than-anticipated earnings and revenue. The company also raised its full-year top and bottom line guidance. Investors will also watch closely for numbers from Microsoft, Advanced Micro Devices and Starbucks after the closing bell. “Both 2024 and 2025 consensus EPS are holding up, with 2024 EPS tracking a typical non-recessionary year revision trend. This suggests that analysts are relatively comfortable with their estimates,” Savita Subramanian, Bank of America’s head of U.S. equity and quantitative strategy, said in a note. “Corporate commentaries are also relatively sanguine.” The Fed’s two-day policy meeting is set to begin Tuesday where central bank Chief Jerome Powell could signal the timing and number of rate cuts expected in the next few months. The Fed previously projected only one rate cut for the remainder of 2024, and traders have priced in a 100% chance for a September rate reduction, according to the CME FedWatch Tool. “Inflation is trending lower, supporting Federal Reserve rate cuts,” said Seema Shah, chief global strategist at Principal Asset Management. “This, coupled with a still robust economic outlook and strong corporate earnings, should bolster risk assets and lead to a broadening of returns away from just technology.” On Tuesday, traders will be watching for job openings data for the month of June. Economists polled by Dow Jones are calling for 8.1 million job openings, the same as in May. Consumer confidence for July is also slated for release. U.S. Treasury yields were little changed on Tuesday as investors looked to economic data from the labor market and the Federal Reserve’s July meeting. The yield on the 10-year Treasury was down by less than one basis point to 4.171%. The 2-year Treasury was last at 4.394% after rising by less than one basis point. Asia-Pacific markets fell across the region on Tuesday as the Bank of Japan kicked off its two-day monetary policy meeting. Japan’s Nikkei 225 made a late comeback to climb 0.15% to 38,525.95, while the broad-based Topix fell 0.19% to finish at 2,754.45. Japan’s unemployment rate came in slightly lower than expected in July, at 2.5% compared to the 2.6% forecast by a Reuters poll of economists. South Korea’s Kospi dropped 0.99% to end at 2,738.19, while the small-cap Kosdaq saw a smaller loss of 0.52%, closing at 803.78. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 dropped 0.46% and finished at 7,953.2. Hong Kong Hang Seng index was down 1.43% as of its final hour of trade, while mainland China’s CSI 300 fell 0.63%, extending its losses to 3,369.38 to hit new six-month lows. U.S. crude oil futures on Tuesday fell to the lowest levels since early June as worries about China’s economy overshadow a new round of escalation in the Middle East. “Macroeconomic considerations keep shaping investors’ sentiment and oil slid through technical supports like hot knife through butter,” Tamas Varga, analyst with oil broker PVM, wrote in a Tuesday note. “Chinese economic turmoil, including sluggish growth and falling crude oil imports, is still a major driving force for our market,” Varga said. West Texas Intermediate September contract: $75.19 per barrel, down 62 cents, or 0.82%. Year to date, U.S. crude oil has gained 4.9%. Brent September contract: $79.03 per barrel, down 75 cents, or 0.9%. Year to date, the global benchmark has gained 2.6%. Gold prices edged higher on Tuesday as investors awaited the Federal Reserve’s commentary on its monetary policy and a deluge of U.S. economic data due later in the week for more clues on the pace and scale of the Fed’s interest rate cuts. Spot gold was up 0.2% at $2,387.89 per ounce, as of 0911 GMT. U.S. gold futures rose 0.3% at $2,384.80.