Home Depot, Walmart Give the Dow a Tuesday Morning Boost

The stock market remains near all-time highs, and despite ongoing concerns about macroeconomic issues like inflation, market participants seem to be optimistic about how things are going for many of the largest companies in the world. As of just after 8 a.m. EST, the stock market looked poised for a mixed opening without any major moves. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI) were higher by 51 points to 36,060 Tuesday morning, but S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) futures were down just a quarter-point to 4,679, and Nasdaq Composite (NASDAQINDEX: ^IXIC) futures were down 9 points to 16,179.

Earnings season is coming to a close, but there are still some big companies releasing results that have stories to tell about the current state of the economy. Both Home Depot (NYSE: HD) and Walmart (NYSE: WMT) gave their latest readings Tuesday, and the two retail stocks made modest yet significant upward moves in premarket trading that helped push Dow futures higher and signaled a continuing favorable trend for stock prices in the venerable stock market benchmark.

Shares of Home Depot were up a bit less than 1% in premarket trading Tuesday morning. The home improvement retailer's third-quarter earnings supported the long-term thesis for the company, as the tailwinds that have helped the company in the past year remained in place.

Source Fool.com