Investing.com - U.S. futures were flat on Wednesday, pausing for breath after the S&P 500 and Nasdaq posted new record highs on the back of upbeat earnings reports.
Dow futures rose 29 points or 0.1% by 6:40 AM ET (10:40 GMT), while the S&P 500 futures contract was flat. Tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures inched up half a point.
Overnight news has clouded the macro outlook a little, with China appearing to rein in its monetary stimulus, and Germany's business climate failing to improve in April after signs of a turnaround in March.
There are 42 companies set to report on Wednesday, including Boeing (NYSE:BA), Facebook (NASDAQ:FB), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT).
Snap (NYSE:SNAP) jumped 5.4% in premarket trading after saying its losses were less than expected for the first quarter. The company's number of active daily users also rose. eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY) gained 4.2% after it beat forecasts, while Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) inched up 0.5% after stronger-than-expected earnings.
Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC) slipped 0.5% after news that it is considering selling its Ore-Ida frozen potato business, while Texas Instruments (NASDAQ:TXN) fell 1.3% after it said the slowdown in demand for semiconductors could continue for the next few quarters and hit its sales.
Energy companies are likely to be in focus again, as oil prices fell after two days of gains on news of fresh U.S. moves to restrict Iranian oil exports. Crude oil fell 0.3% to $66.08 a barrel, after reaching a new 2019 high on Monday.
Gold futures inched up 0.1% to $1,274.15 a troy ounce, while the U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, was flat at 97.325.