U.S. stocks were poised to open higher on Tuesday as investors cheered strong quarterly earnings reports, including those from telecommunications equipment maker Lucent Technologies Inc. and automaker General Motors . Earnings news will be in the spotlight today as a flood of quarterly scorecards roll in. This week is one of the busiest of the reporting season. "The important thing this week is earnings," said Bill Strazzullo, market strategist with State Street Corp. "But the other factor to pay attention to is Fed chairman Alan Greenspan's testimony today and tomorrow before Congressional committees. The two-day testimony is important because it gives the market a sense of what Greenspan's timetable is for raising interest rates." Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan is scheduled to testify on the U.S. banking industry before the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday at 2:30 p.m. (1830 GMT). He will testify on the U.S. economy on Wednesday before the congressional Joint Economic Committee.
Equity index futures signaled a higher open. Standard & Poor's 500 stock index futures for June ticked up 3.80 points, while Nasdaq 100 futures for the same month gained 6 points. Dow industrials futures rose 38 points. Greenspan's testimony will be watched carefully for clues to the central bank's next move. Signs of strength in the economy and hints of inflation have prompted speculation that the Fed will raise interest rates sooner than had been previously expected to keep the economy from overheating. This has sparked concerns that higher rates could put the brakes on the rebounding economy. In earnings news, Lucent posted its third consecutive quarterly profit and boosted its sales outlook for the year as spending showed signs of improving. GM, the world's largest automaker, reported better-than-expected first-quarter earnings on record results from its finance wing and improved results from its Asian automotive operations. It also raised its earnings outlook for the year. Altria Group Inc. said quarterly earnings were little changed due to charges, but results beat expectations as Marlboro cigarettes dominated the U.S. market and the weak dollar buoyed international tobacco and food sales. Drugmaker Pfizer Inc. said its first-quarter profit fell from a year earlier when it recorded a big gain from the sale of several businesses, but acquisitions helped fuel a 47 percent rise in revenue. Excluding last year's gain and other items this year, Pfizer's earnings shot up 27 percent, slightly ahead of Wall Street's expectations.///