NEW YORK, Jan 20 - U.S. stocks are set to open slightly higher on Tuesday, extending multiyear highs hit on Friday, as Citigroup Inc. reported strong fourth-quarter earnings. The financial giant said on Tuesday it nearly doubled fourth-quarter profit, providing fresh support for investors' faith that many companies will meet high expectations for the latest quarter. "The focus is on earnings," said Peter Boockvar, equity strategist at Miller Tabak & Co. "Expectations are pretty high for the fourth quarter. Companies are going to really have to deliver -- the market's going to be discriminating on who it will reward and who it will punish." The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> rose to a fresh 2-1/2 year high on Friday, helped by positive economic data and solid earnings news. The Standard & Poor's 500 index <.SPX> and the Dow Jones Industrial Average <.DJI> both reached peaks unseen in a bit under two years.
The market was closed on Monday for observance of the late civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday. U.S. stock futures were trading higher on Tuesday morning, with S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures slightly above fair value, and Dow futures slightly below, pointing to a broadly higher open. No major economic data is scheduled for Tuesday, but investors will focus on a stream of earnings from large companies, including United Technologies , 3M Co. , General Motors and Johnson & Johnson . On Friday, the Nasdaq Composite rose 31.38 points, or 1.49 percent, to close at 2,140.46, its highest level since July 3, 2001. The S&P 500 rose 7.78 points, or 0.69 percent, to end at 1,139.83, its highest close since early April 1, 2002. The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> rose 46.66 points, or 0.44 percent, to 10,600.51, its highest peak since March 19, 2002.//