U.S. stocks trade slightly higher in the early going, as a rise in consumer-company issues offset losses in the materials and financial sectors, which led the previous session’s jump.

These stocks have seen some strong gains, but without rising sales, this bullish trend is unlikely to continue.

As earnings results poured in over the past week and a half all I could imagine were the emails from the CEOs of various American-based multinationals to our leaders in Washington.Such as one like this from Ellen Kullman at DuPont (DD) to Ben Bernanke: Ben -- Thanks so much for the devalued dollars this quarter -- currency translation made all the difference!Or from Jim Owens at Caterpillar (CAT) to Nancy Pelosi: Nancy -- It was like one of those food towers from Harry and David -- three gifts at once:  tax benefits currency gains and fiscal stimulus! Just wait ...

Energy shares get tugged lower on mixed earnings reports as well as modest losses in the broader stock market, overshadowing talk of more deal activity in the sector.

U.S. stock futures rose above one-year peaks on Tuesday after better-than-forecast results from Apple and Caterpillar.

NOTE TO EDITORS: The Following Is an Investment Opinion Being Issued by Ridgewater Equity (RWE).

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