US Stock Futures Up As Investors Await Home Prices, Consumer Confidence Data

US stock futures are higher this morning, as investors are awaiting data on home prices and consumer confidence. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 24 points to 12,138.00 and S&P 500 index futures climbed 2.70 points to 1,304.90. Nasdaq 100 futures rose 6.75 points to 2,302.50. US stocks closed lower on Monday, with the Dow Jones industrial average dropping 23 points to 12,198, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index falling 4 points to 1,310 and the Nasdaq Composite Index declining 12 points to 2,731. The Case-Shiller home-price index for January will be released at 9:00 a.m. ET. However, the Conference Board's consumer-confidence reading for March will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. Apollo Group Inc APOL is expected to report its FQ2 EPS at $0.69 on revenue of $1.03 billion. McCormick & Company Incorporated MKC is expected to report its Q1 EPS at $0.54 on revenue of $802.91 million. TIBCO Software Inc TIBX is expected to report its Q1 EPS at $0.15 on revenue of $182.68 million. Sealy Corporation ZZ is expected to report its FQ1 EPS at $0.03 on revenue of $326.06 million. Lennar Corp LEN reported its Q1 earnings at $0.14 per share, versus the expected loss of $0.05 per share. LEN reported its Q1 revenue at $558 million, versus the consensus of $508.23 million. Phillips-Van Heusen Corp PVH reported its Q4 profit at $52.2 million, or $0.72 per share, compared with $27 million, or $0.51 per share, in the year-earlier period. On an adjusted basis, the company's earnings came in at $0.93 per share. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.82 per share on revenue of $1.36 billion. The company projects Q1 earnings of $0.82 to $0.84 per share on revenue of $1.32 billion to $1.35 billion. Most Asian markets ended lower, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average dropping 0.21%, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 gaining 0.40% and China's Shanghai Composite falling 0.87%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index lost 0.03% and India's Sensex surged 177.66 points. Negative sentiment ruled the European markets today. While STOXX Europe 600 Index has dropped 0.40%, London's FTSE 100 Index moved down 0.18%. The dollar gained 0.3% to ¥81.923 versus the yen, while the euro rose 0.3% to $1.4114 versus the US dollar. Light, sweet crude futures for delivery in May dropped $0.09 to $103.89 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) in the Globex electronic session. Read more from Benzinga's Markets.