Investing.com – U.S. Futures pointed to a cautious opening bell on Wednesday as investors digest comments from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and look ahead to data.
The S&P 500 futures rose one point or 0.05% to 2,748.75 as of 6:40 AM ET (11:40 GMT) while Dow futures increased 28 points or 0.11% to 25,457.0. Meanwhile tech heavy Nasdaq 100 futures was up six points or 0.09% to 6,921.75.
All three major indexes fell more than 1% after the markets closed on Tuesday amid hawkish comments from Powell. The Fed chair said he thought the economy had strengthened, leaving investors worried that the central bank may hike up interest rates four times instead of three.
Traders will also be looking ahead to a flurry of data in the afternoon for clues about the strength of the U.S. economy. Gross domestic product (GDP) is expected at 8:30 AM ET (13:30 GMT) followed by the Chicago purchasing managers’ index at 9:45 AM ET (14:45 GMT) and pending home sales at 10:00 AM ET (15:00 GMT).
Social media site Snap Inc (NYSE:SNAP) was among the top performers in pre-market trading, rising 1.59% while telecommunications firm increased 1.37% and Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) inched up 0.28%. Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) was up 0.42%.
Elsewhere metals and mining firm Rio Tinto ADR (NYSE:RIO) fell 2.44% while Barrick Gold Corporation (NYSE:ABX) fell 0.43% and Banco Santander (MC:SAN) SA ADR (NYSE:SAN) inched down 0.21%.
In earnings news, Lowe’s Companies Inc (NYSE:LOW), Office Depot Inc (NASDAQ:ODP), Salesforce.com (NYSE:CRM) and Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc (NYSE:VRX) are some of the companies reporting their financial results on Wednesday.
In Europe stocks were down. Germany’s DAX fell 29 points or 0.24% while in France the CAC 40 decreased 20 points or 0.38% and in London, the FTSE 100 was down 24 points or 0.34%. Meanwhile the pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 lost five points or 0.15% while Spain’s IBEX 35 slumped 64 points or 0.65%.
In commodities, gold futures were up 0.12% to $1,320.20 a troy ounce while crude oil futures fell 0.16% to $62.91 a barrel. The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, was up 0.08% to 90.38.