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GATHERING SOME STEAM

After a sluggish start with futures in the red, U.S. stocks appear to be gaining some upside momentum, led in part by gains in financials .SPSY after the latest round of bank earnings as the pace of earnings season begins to quicken.

The S&P 500 bank index .SPXBK is up around 1.5%, buoyed by a jump on nearly 4% in Bank of America BAC.N after its quarterly results topped estimates, while Citi C.N rose nearly 3% as its earnings also beat expectations.

On the data front, U.S. import prices unexpectedly fell in March, pulled down by decreasing costs for energy products, although the trend is unlikely to stay intact as that came before the Trump administration launched its tariffs.

"The headline decline in import prices of 0.1% was driven by the big drop in oil prices. The extent to which foreign firms are eating the costs of tariffs will show up as a decline in import prices, but that’s not showing up, yet," said Brian Jacobsen, chief economist at Annex Wealth Management in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin.

"It’s still early days in this drama."

A separate report from the New York Fed said factory activity in the state was a minus 8.1 in April, above expectations calling for a negative 14.5.

Below is your market snapshot:

(Chuck Mikolajczak)

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FOR TUESDAY'S EARLIER LIVE MARKETS POSTS:

S&P 500 INDEX: CAN IT BUILD BACK BETTER? - CLICK HERE

RECOVERING FROM PEAK TARIFF PANIC - CLICK HERE

HUMPTY DUMPTY HAS FALLEN, BUT HARD DATA DOESN'T YET SHOW IT - CLICK HERE

EUROPE INC EARNINGS: "RISKS TO THE DOWNSIDE" - CLICK HERE

BARCLAYS RECOMMENDS LONG 5-YEAR US TREASURIES - CLICK HERE

BOUNCING BACK - CLICK HERE

EUROPE BEFORE THE BELL: LVMH EARNINGS WREST FOCUS FROM TARIFFS - CLICK HERE

MORNING BID: TAXES AND TARIFFS ON THE MIND AS RELIEF RALLY LIMPS ALONG - CLICK HERE