Investing.com – U.S. futures rose on Wednesday ahead of a flurry of earnings results despite growing concern of a possible government shutdown.
The S&P 500 futures rose 10 points or 0.37% to 2,792.75 as of 6:57 AM ET (11:57 GMT) while Dow futures increased 142 points or 0.55% to 25,961.0. Meanwhile tech heavy Nasdaq 100 futures was up 25 points or 0.37% to 6,787.0.
The Dow broke 26,000 points for the first time on Tuesday but markets were weighed down by concerns of a possible government shutdown.
Congress has until Friday to pass a spending bill to prevent a shutdown, but Republican and Democrats disagree over an immigration bill from the Democratic Party.
Shares of Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) were up 0.38% after it posted higher than expected earnings, not including an expected tax charge. Other firms expected to release their earnings results today include Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS), Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) and Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI).
Meanwhile IBM (NYSE:IBM) rose 1.93% in pre-market trading after the technology firm partnered with shipping giant Maersk to create a blockchain solution for the shipping trade. Telecommunications firm Nokia (HE:NOKIA) Corp ADR (NYSE:NOK) inched forward 0.20% while Barclays (LON:BARC) PLC ADR (NYSE:BCS) gained 0.64%.
Elsewhere education publisher Pearson (LON:PSON) fell 6.01% despite the company forecasting higher profits. Financial firm Credit Suisse (SIX:CSGN) slumped 1.06% while Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) inched down 0.22%.
In economic news, the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index comes out at 10:00 AM ET (15:00 GMT). Investors will also be listening closely to remarks from Chicago Fed President Charles Evans and Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan, who are both speaking at a roundtable in Palm Beach, Florida. Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester will also be speaking at an event in New Jersey.
In Europe stocks were down. Germany’s DAX fell 33 points or 0.26% while in France the CAC 40 decreased three points or 0.06% and in London, the FTSE 100 was down 15 points or 0.20%. Meanwhile the pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 slumped two points or 0.07% while Spain’s IBEX 35 lost 54 points or 0.52%.
In commodities, gold futures rose 0.09% to $1,338.30 a troy ounce while crude oil futures slumped 0.41% to $63.47 a barrel. The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, rallied 0.25% to 90.46.