Investing.com - Wall Street futures pointed to a flat open on Wednesday as investors looked ahead to key data and remarks from Federal Reserve (Fed) officials in order to gauge the timing of a return to policy normalization.
The blue-chip Dow futures edged down 16 points, or 0.09%, by 6:58AM ET (10:58GMT), the S&P 500 futures slipped 1 point, or 0.03%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures fell less than a point, or 0.01%.
A recent string of hawkish comments from members of the U.S. central bank have increased the likelihood of a rate hike at the December meeting.
After Tuesday’s market close, Chicago Fed president Charles Evans said he would be “fine” with a rate hike by the end of this year.
Still ahead, investors would measure Minneapolis Fed chief Neel Kashkari and Richmond Fed president Jeffrey Lacker were scheduled to speak.
On Tuesday, Lacker said there was strong case for a “pre-emptive” hike now and argued that current levels of inflation and unemployment would, historically, warrant interest rates of at least 1.5%, compared to the current range of 0.25% to 0.50%.
According to Investing.com's Fed Rate Monitor Tool, Fed fund futures currently price in a 63% chance of a hike at the December meeting, compared to just 53% last week,
Ahead of Friday’s nonfarm payrolls report, market participants would digest other data this session that could shift expectations for policy tightening.
The U.S. is due to release the ADP jobs report for September at 8:15AM ET (12:15GMT). At 10:00AM ET (14:00GMT), the U.S. Institute of Supply Management is to publish its index of non-manufacturing activity for September along with August factory orders.
Also on Wednesday’s calendar, the U.S. Energy Information Administration will release its weekly report on oil supplies at 10:30AM ET (14:30GMT), amid analyst expectations for an increase of 2.56 million barrels.
After markets closed Tuesday, the American Petroleum Institute said that U.S. oil inventories surprisingly fell by 7.6 million barrels in the week ended September 30, when experts had expected a build of 1.5 million barrels.
While waiting for the release, oil prices surges to their strongest level in nearly four months.
U.S. crude futures traded up 1.68% to $49.51 by 6:59AM ET (10:59GMT) while Brent oil gained 1.77% to $51.77.
In earnings news, Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) fell more than 5% in the after hours market after reporting an 11% year-on-year decline in revenue after the market close on Tuesday.
AngioDynamics Inc (NASDAQ:ANGO) reported a 5.1% increase in revenues which allowed the medical device maker to beat on the top and bottom line.
Monsanto (NYSE:MON) and Constellation Brands (NYSE:STZ) were on tap to report before the opening bell, while Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) was scheduled for after the close.