Rising concerns about the euro-zone debt pressured equities on Monday. While those headwinds remained, markets have steadied, with European shares up 0.25 percent, following a decline of more than 1 percent on Monday.

Both crude and Brent futures rose 1.3 percent after Goldman Sachs raised its forecast for oil, citing strong growth in demand for fuel.

Copper also rallied, gaining 1.4 percent after Goldman forecast an increase in Chinese purchases in the coming months. Gold prices rose 0.5 percent while the United States dollar index fell 0.2 percent.

“Investors are realizing that at the end of the day, there’s more demand for commodities than there is supply. That means the long-term trend is higher,” said Oliver Pursche, president at Gary Goldberg Financial Services in Suffern, N.Y. “When there’s a short-term selloff, we would take it as an entry point.”

Sony rose 4.8 percent to $27.86 in premarket trading after the electronics maker said this year’s operating profit would match last year’s, easing worries about the impact of the March earthquake. Those concerns have contributed to recent weakness in the stock.

SP 500 futures rose 2.3 points Dow Jones industrial average futures added 25 points and Nasdaq 100 futures rose 3.25 points.

The United States Treasury is expected to sell 15 percent of its stake in the American International Group when the insurer prices its stock offering after the market closes.

AutoZone and Medtronic reported results early Tuesday. Medtronic said it was well positioned for sustainable growth in 2012 and beyond, while AutoZone posted domestic same-store sales growth of 5.3 percent.

Applied Materials is scheduled to report results later on Tuesday.

April new home sales data, due at 10 a.m., are seen rising by the same amount as the previous month. The Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond May indexes on area manufacturing and service sectors will also be released.

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