Stock futures trade higher as oil decline continues

Four Dow members will report earnings Tuesday

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U.S. equity futures are pointing to a higher open ahead of the start of the Federal Reserve's two-day policy meeting as oil prices continue to trend lower.

Dow Industrial futures are pointing to a gain of 1.4 percent ahead of the Tuesday trading session.

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Governments are inching toward letting businesses reopen and central banks are stepping in to provide cash to economies.

U.S. Federal Reserve policymakers will begin a two-day meeting on Tuesday amid turbulent financial markets. The Fed is needed to rescue an economy and job market that appear to be free-falling into the worst catastrophe since the Great Depression.

In energy markets, benchmark U.S. crude dropped 8 percent or $1.05 to $11.72 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It fell $4.16, or 24.6 percent, to $12.78 a barrel Monday. Brent crude, the international standard, rose 42 cents to $20.41 a barrel.

QUESTIONS SWIRL AS FED MEETS AMID DEEPENING ECONOMIC CRISIS

Prices have been swinging wildly as demand for energy collapses and storage tanks come close to topping out.

In Asian markets on Tuesday, Japan's benchmark Nikkei inched down less than 0.1 percent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 1.2 percent and China's Shanghai Composite fell 0.2 percent.

In Europe, London's FTSE added 1.5 percent, Germany's DAX gained 1.5 percent and France's CAC rose 1.3 percent.

Ticker Security Last Change Change %
I:DJI DOW JONES AVERAGES 43444.99 -305.87 -0.70%
SP500 S&P 500 5870.62 -78.55 -1.32%
I:COMP NASDAQ COMPOSITE INDEX 18680.120875 -427.53 -2.24%

On Monday, the S&P 500 rose 41.74 points to 2,878.48. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1.5 percent to 24,133.78, and the Nasdaq climbed 1.1 percent, to 8,730.16.

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In the U.S., roughly 150 companies in the S&P 500 are scheduled to report earnings this week. That includes the Big Five of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Microsoft and Google’s parent, Alphabet, which together make up about a fifth of the index.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.