Investing.com - U.S. futures pointed to a higher open Wednesday, as tech stocks recovered from a steep slump and investors looked ahead to economic data before the Thanksgiving holiday.
The S&P 500 futures rose 16 points or 0.61% to 2,656.0 as of 6:38 AM ET (11:38 GMT) while Dow futures were up 125 points, or 0.51%, to 24,562.0. Meanwhile tech heavy Nasdaq 100 futures increased 57 points, or 0.87%, to 6,589.50.
Futures were boosted by a report from MNI that the Federal Reserve may possibly pause its rate hike cycle as early as the spring, citing "senior people" at the U.S. central bank.
Wall Street closed in the red for the second consecutive day on Tuesday, wiping out yearly gains amid worry over retail earnings and technology production levels.
Foot Locker (NYSE:FL) was among the top gainers in premarket trading, surging 13% after its earnings came in better than expected. Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) inched up 0.69%, while Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) jumped 1.36% and Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) bounced back 0.81%. Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) increased 1.07% and Paypal gained 0.95%.
Elsewhere, Lowe’s (NYSE:LOW) dipped 1.16% while Carnival (NYSE:CCL) Corp fell 0.63% and Alliant Energy was down 0.86%.
A flurry of economic data is expected later in the session. Durable goods orders comes out at 8:30 AM ET (13:30 GMT), while existing home sales data is out at 10:00 AM ET (15:00 GMT). Initial jobless claims data is also released a day ahead of its normal release due to the Thanksgiving holiday, along with a revised Michigan consumer sentiment for November.
In commodities markets, gold futures rose 0.33% to $1,225.20 a troy ounce while crude oil futures increased 1.74% to $54.36 a barrel.
The U.S. dollar index which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, fell 0.26% to 96.465.