Wall Street set to open higher; Dow to hit record level

By Yashaswini Swamynathan

(Reuters) - Wall Street was set to open higher on Tuesday, with the Dow on track to hit a record high for the second straight day, as a post-election rally continued.

U.S. stocks have climbed since the Nov. 8 election, driven by expectations of significant economic stimulus and cuts in corporate taxes and regulations under President-elect Donald Trump.

A spate of strong economic data, including GDP, consumer confidence and hiring, has fueled the rally.

The Dow, which has been on a record-setting run since the election, marked fresh record intraday and closing highs on Monday, buoyed by a report that showed activity in the U.S. services sector hit a one-year high in November.

""Regardless of who won, we've got a fundamental backdrop that has been doing better and along with that there is the possibility of a pro-business environment in 2017," said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at Wunderlich Equity Capital Markets in New York.

The Federal Reserve has been preparing the markets for higher interest rates encouraged by a spate of strong economic data. Traders currently see a whopping 92 percent chance of a move when the central bank meets next Tuesday and Wednesday, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Dow e-minis were up 19 points, or 0.1 percent at 8:32 a.m. ET, with 19,860 contracts changing hands.

S&P 500 e-minis were up 4 points, or 0.18 percent, with 128,034 contracts traded.

Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 10.75 points, or 0.22 percent, on volume of 14,038 contracts.

A report from the Commerce Department showed U.S. trade deficit rose more-than-expected to $42.6 billion, as exports fell amid declining shipments for soybeans and other goods. Economists had expected a deficit of $41.8 billion.

However, futures' reaction to the data seemed muted.

A report on factory orders data for October is likely to show new orders rose 2.6 percent in the month after adding 0.3 percent in September. The data is due at 10:00 a.m. ET.

Shares of Verizon rose 0.50 percent to $50 premarket, after the wireless carrier agreed to sell 29 data centers to Equinix for $3.6 billion. Shares of Equinix rose 0.58 percent to $334.

Intralinks soared 15.5 percent to $13.02 after Synchronoss Technologies said it would buy the cloud-based business software provider for $821 million, representing a 15.4 percent premium to Intralinks' Monday close. Synchronoss shares were off 1.6 percent.

Pandora rose 2.8 percent to $13.75 after brokerage Aegis Capital initiated coverage on the online radio company's stock with a "buy" rating and a $16 price target.

(Reporting by Yashaswini Swamynathan in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)