Investing.com - U.S. stock futures pointed to a higher open on Wednesday, as markets awaited the release of a string of earnings reports and U.S. home sales data later in the day, after a downbeat U.S. report on Tuesday fuelled concerns over the strength of the country's economic recovery.
Ahead of the open, the Dow Jones Industrial Average futures pointed to a 0.17% rise, S&P 500 futures signaled a 0.20% increase, while the Nasdaq 100 futures indicated a 0.18% gain.
The Conference Board reported Tuesday that its U.S. consumer confidence index declined to 78.1 in February, from a downwardly revised 79.4 last month, amid concerns over the short-term outlook for business conditions, jobs, and earnings.
A recent series of disappointing U.S. economic indicators have sparked concerns that the recovery has lost momentum since the end of last year.
The financial sector was likely to be in focus, as JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs were said to be among 18 financial firms that agreed to stop participating in some surveys of analyst sentiment while New York investigates early access to the information.
Shares in JPMorgan Chase rose 0.28% in pre-market trade, while Goldman Sachs added 0.18%.
Separately, Morgan Stanley, up 0.13% after hours, reportedly gave employees $2.72 billion in deferred awards for 2013 performance, disclosing the amount for the first time.
Bank of America edged up 0.12% in extended trading, after the U.S. lender disclosed new probes into its mortgage and foreign-exchange businesses and rose the estimate of potential legal losses by 20% to $6.1 billion.
First Solar Inc. was also expected to be active, as shares dove 14.18% in early trading, after the largest U.S. solar-panel manufacturer reported a 58% profit drop the fourth quarter.
In the tech sector, Google Inc. was up 0.39% pre-market even as a member of the West Virginia House of Delegates introduced a bill to ban drivers from wearing Google Glass. Similar measures have reportedly been introduced in at least five other states, although the device is still in its experimental stage.
Among earnings, Lowe’s reported fiscal fourth quarter results that were broadly in line with market expectations, sending share in the world's second largest home improvement retailer up 3.10% in pre-market trade.
Other stocks likely to be in focus included Abercrombie & Fitch, Barnes & Noble, Centerpoint, Chesapeake Energy, Dollar Tree, Target and Sodastream and TJX, all scheduled to report quarterly earnings later in the day.
Across the Atlantic, European stock markets were lower. The EURO STOXX 50 eased 0.07%, France’s CAC 40 fell 0.20%, Germany's DAX edged down 0.08%, while Britain's FTSE 100 slid 0.29%.
During the Asian trading session, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index climbed 0.54%, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index dropped 0.54%.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to release data on new home sales.