Wall Street is set to open higher on Tuesday, with investors welcoming the encouraging results from GE Aerospace and GM, which have given them a renewed appetite for risk.

Half an hour before the opening, futures contracts on the major New York indices were up by between 0.2% and 0.3%, heralding a green start to the session.

After reaching all-time highs at the end of March, US equity markets have been less inspired over the past month, mainly due to the Fed's more cautious stance on possible rate cuts.

Investors are counting on the first-quarter earnings season, which kicked off around ten days ago, to restore some of the optimism that characterized the start of the year.

Early releases have been unconvincing, however, with only 74% of companies reporting above consensus so far, according to FactSet.

The majority of companies reporting this morning beat consensus.

GM climbed more than 4% in pre-market trading after reporting a solid performance and an optimistic outlook, confirming the carmaker's turnaround.

GE Aerospace also reported better-than-expected first-quarter results, and raised its full-year targets in the process.

The earnings season is set to intensify in the coming days with releases from tech giants Microsoft, Meta Platforms and Alphabet, on which investors are betting big.

Stock markets are off to a rocky start in the second quarter, but we expect them to bounce back, particularly in the US, on the back of renewed enthusiasm for artificial intelligence", prophesy the teams at Capital Economics.

In terms of indicators, investors await the publication of S&P Global's PMI index of private sector activity in April, followed by new home sales figures.

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