By Elliot Smith, CNBC-

U.S. stock index futures ticked higher Tuesday morning ahead of earnings reports from a slew of major American companies.

At around 1.45 a.m. ET, Dow futures were 14 points higher and indicated an implied positive open of around 5 points, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq were seen edging into positive territory.

Earnings season gets underway in earnest Tuesday with banking giants Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo and Charles Schwab all set to report earnings before the bell, along with other big names such as Johnson & Johnson and Domino’s Pizza. Both United Airlines and CSX are due to report after the bell.

Stocks rose to notch a fresh record close on Monday, but gains were tepid as Wall Street monitors the start of earnings season. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 0.1% higher at 27,359.16, with the S&P 500 closing just above the flatline and the Nasdaq Composite edging 0.2% higher.

The record highs represent a modest continuation of a Wall Street rally triggered last week after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell indicated during congressional testimony that an interest rate cut may be on the horizon.

The outlook for this earnings season is bleak, however. Analysts expect S&P 500 earnings to have fallen by 3% in the second quarter, according to FactSet data.

Citigroup kicked off earnings on Monday by reporting second-quarter numbers that topped analyst expectations. Gains from the initial public offering of Tradeweb, an electronic bond trading platform, drove the bank’s results past Wall Street estimates.

The likes of Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, BNY Mellon and BlackRock are all set to report this week.

Investors will also have an eye on U.S. industrial production and retail sales data for June, set to be released Tuesday morning.

– CNBC’s Fred Imbert contributed to this report.

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