Stocks ready to rebound

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- U.S. stocks were poised for early gains Tuesday, even though the futures lost momentum after the release of disappointing housing data.

At 8:53 a.m. ET, Dow Jones industrial average, Nasdaq 100 and Standard & Poor's 500 futures were higher, but off their earlier peaks.

Futures measure current index values against their perceived future performance and offer an indication of how markets may open when trading begins.

Wall Street kicked off the week on a rough note Monday, with the major gauges losing about 2%. Stocks fell on concerns that the global economy would take longer to recover than previously anticipated.

The roughly five-month rally, fueled by signs that the economy is stabilizing, slowed down last week and hit a roadblock on Friday after a worse-than-expected consumer sentiment report.

Peter Cardillo, chief market economist for Avalon Partners, said the biggest market-mover on Tuesday will be the government report on housing starts.

"Housing is what sunk the economy, housing is what sunk the consumer, housing is the root of the problem," said Cardillo, prior to the housing reports.

Economy: The government reported that housing starts slipped to an annual rate of 581,000 units in July, from the revised rate of 587,000 in June. This was worse that expected. For July, an annual rate of 598,000 was forecast for housing starts, according to a consensus of economist opinion from Briefing.com.

The government reported that housing starts fell to an annual rate of 560,000 of units in July, from the revised rate of 570,000 in June. For July, an annual rate of 576,000 was forecast, according to Briefing.com consensus.

Also, the government reported prices at the wholesale level. The Price Producer Index fell 0.9% in July, worse than expected. The PPI was forecast to fall 0.3% in July, according to the Briefing.com consensus, compared to a gain of 1.8% in June.

Core PPI, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, slipped 0.1% in July, which was much more than expected. The Core PPI was forecast to edge up 0.1%, according to Briefing.com consensus.

Earnings: Home improvement retailer Home Depot (HD, Fortune 500) reported fiscal second-quarter net earnings of $1.1 billion, or 66 cents per diluted share, down from $1.2 billion or 71 cents per diluted share in the year-ago quarter.

Chief executive Frank Blake said, in a press release, that consumers were pressured by "concerns about the housing market, rising unemployment and softness in the overall economy." Nonetheless, Home Depot's earnings beat the 59 cents per share that was expected by Wall Street, according to a consensus of analyst opinion from Thomson Reuters.

On Monday, rival Lowe's (LOW, Fortune 500) reported a 19% drop in quarterly profit and said it was trimming its store expansion in North America.

Retailers Target (TGT, Fortune 500) and TJX (TJX, Fortune 500) also are due to post results.

Companies: GM reached a deal to sell its money-losing Saab unit to Swedish luxury sports car maker Koenigsegg.

World markets: Stocks around the world were in recovery mode, although gains were modest. In Asia, Japan's Nikkei edged higher. Major markets in Europe gained slightly in morning trading.

Money and oil: The dollar slipped versus the euro and the British pound but rose against the yen. The price of oil eged up 5 cents per barrel to $66.80.