US stock-index futures advanced on Tuesday after a government report showed that import prices rose 2.2% in April.
At 8:30 am ET, the S&P 500 futures rose 6.80 points to 1,349.50. The Dow Jones Industrial average futures rallied 58 points to 12,689. The Nasdaq Composite futures climbed 13.75 points to 2,400.25.
The Labor Department reported Tuesday that U.S. import prices rose 2.2% in April. Economists had expected import prices to increase by 1.6% last month.
Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) on Tuesday announced that it has agreed to acquire Skype Global S.a r.l for $8.5 billion in cash from the investor group led by Silver Lake. The company said that Skype will support Microsoft devices like Xbox and Kinect, Windows Phone and a wide array of Windows devices, and Microsoft will connect Skype users with Lync, Outlook, Xbox Live and other communities.
Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal reported that search giant Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) is supposedly entering the music cloud business.
On the earnings front, Dow component Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) will report after the closing bell Tuesday. Analysts, on average, expect the company to report earnings of 56 cents per share on revenue of $9.13 billion. In the year ago quarter, the company reported earnings of 48 cents per share on revenue of $8.58 billion.
On Tuesday, China's General Administration of Customs announced that China's monthly trade rose $11.43 billion surplus in April from $1.68 billion surplus recorded in the same month last year.
European stocks advanced in afternoon trade. At 13:24 pm London Time, the UK FTSE rose 74.11 points, or 1.25%, to 6,016.80. The German DAX and French CAC increased 1.43% and 1.42% respectively.
Asian stocks finished higher. The Nikkei 225 rose 24.38 points, or 0.25%, to 9,818.76.
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