Wall Street was set for a flat open on Tuesday as upbeat earnings from big investment banks Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley failed to fuel the optimism that has led the major indexes to record highs.
Shares of both the banks were up about 1 percent in premarket trading after their third-quarter profit beat estimates despite continuing weakness in trading revenue.
"The market seems like it's in a holding pattern as investors look for additional evidence to drive it higher," said Andre Bakhos, managing director at Janlyn Capital LLC in Bernardsville, New Jersey.
"As we get into the meat of earnings season, investors are looking to confirm the valuations of equities."
The three major U.S. stock indexes rose to record closing highs on Monday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average coming within 50 points of the 23,000 mark.
However, the CBOE Volatility index, Wall Street's measure of market nervousness, stayed near its recent record lows at below 10 percent.
At 8:30 a.m. Eastern time, Dow e-minis were up 14 points, or 0.06 percent, with 14,676 contracts changing hands.
S&P 500 e-minis were down 0.75 points, or 0.03 percent, with 72,410 contracts traded.
Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 4.75 points, or 0.08 percent, on volume of 16,521 contracts.
The dollar and U.S. Treasury yields took comfort from news that U.S. President Donald Trump might pick Stanford University economist John Taylor to lead the Federal Reserve, after Janet Yellen's term ends next year.