Wall Street to rise on earnings, tame inflation data

By Rodrigo Campos

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures rose on Tuesday as a cascade of earnings landed and inflation data was tame, while hopes rose for an easing of tensions in Ukraine.

U.S. consumer prices rose in June as the cost of gasoline surged, but the overall trend continued to point to a gradual build up of inflationary pressures - allowing the Federal Reserve to continue to slowly take the foot off the stimulus pedal.

Pro-Russian rebels agreed to hand over the black boxes from the Malaysian plane shot down near the Ukraine-Russia border last week and the Malaysian government announced it also negotiated the release of the remains of nearly 300 victims.

The European Union threatened Russia with harsher sanctions over Ukraine, but France's president signaled the disputed delivery of a warship to Moscow would go ahead.

Traders will also keep an eye on the Middle East as Israel pounded targets across the Gaza Strip and said no ceasefire was near. Top U.S. and U.N. diplomats pursued talks to stop fighting that has claimed nearly 600 lives, an overwhelming majority from inside Gaza.

S&P 500 e-mini futures were up 8 points and fair value - a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract - indicated a higher open. Dow Jones industrial average e-mini futures rose 50 points and Nasdaq 100 e-mini futures added 18 points.

A glut of earnings is on the books, with McDonald's, Coca-Cola, and Travelers leading a pack of nearly 40 S&P 500 components scheduled to post quarterly numbers Tuesday. Apple will report after the closing bell.

Coke fell 1.9 percent after it reported a 3 percent fall in quarterly net profit.. McDonald's profit fell on weak U.S. sales and its shares lost 2.2 percent premarket.

Chipotle Mexican Grill rose 10.5 percent premarket a day after it reported a nearly 26 percent jump in quarterly profit after traffic surged despite higher prices.

The economic calendar includes home resales for June and the Richmond Fed index for July due at 10 a.m. (1400 GMT).

(Reporting by Rodrigo Campos; Editing by Nick Zieminski)