Wall Street to open near record-highs on strong retail earnings

[McFurd]

Reuters - 2/21/2017 - Yashaswini Swamynathan - U.S. stocks looked set to open near record-highs on Tuesday as oil prices rose and investors cheered better-than-expected profits at top U.S. retailers. Shares of Wal-Mart (WMT.N) and Home Depot (HD.N) are likely to be the top influencers on the Dow after the companies reported results. Wal-Mart was up 3.4 percent in premarket trading, while Home Depot rose 1.9 percent. Department store bellwether Macy's (M.N) also reported a better-than-expected profit, sending its shares up 3.2 percent. Investor sentiment was boosted by a more than 1.5 percent rise in oil prices, after OPEC said the group was hopeful of higher compliance with its deal to cut production. Strong earnings, robust economic data and the possibility of fiscal stimulus under President Donald Trump has lifted Wall Street's main indexes to record highs in the past months. Read more @ http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-s ... SKBN1601E0