Investing.com - Wall Street futures edged lower on Wednesday, as a fresh batch of corporate earnings reports was set to be released amid growing uncertainty over a potential U.S. tax reform plan.
Markets were jittery following reports that a key corporate tax cut currently under discussion in U.S. tax reforms plans could be delayed for one year.
The Washington Post reported on Tuesday that Senate Republican leaders are thinking of postponing the implementation of the major corporate tax cut to comply with Senate rules.
Sentiment has been boosted in recent session by hopes the U.S. administration's tax cuts could boost the economy. If enacted, the bill would be the biggest overhaul of the U.S. tax system since the 1980s.
It would also be the first major legislative achievement since Republicans took control of the White House and Congress in January, but doubts remain over the scale of borrowing needed to finance the bill and the timetable for its passage this month.
The blue-chip Dow futures were down 0.09%, the S&P 500 futures fell 0.12%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures eased 0.02%.
Media stocks were expected to remain in focus, after posting sharp gains on Tuesday. Disney climbed 0.96% on the day and then proceeded to rise by another 0.13% in after-hour trade following news the entertainment giant approached 21st Century Fox regarding a potential deal. 21st Century Fox was set to release its latest earnings report on Wednesday.
The tech sector was also likely to be in focus, after Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen said that this year's holiday season should hit $100 billion in online sales, mostly via mobile sales.
Separately, Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL) said it had partnered with Israel's artificial intelligence health start-up Zebra Medical Vision to offer its algorithms on the search giant's cloud. The announcement came as Google continues to battle mounting competition from Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), which both already have special cloud tools focused on areas of medicines.
On the earnings front, AdvanSix Inc (NYSE:ASIX), Alaska Communications Systems (NASDAQ:ALSK), Command Security Corp, Global Partners LP (NYSE:GLP), AmpliPhi Biosciences Corp (NYSE:APHB) and InfoSonics Corp (NASDAQ:IFON) are a few of the names posting results ahead of the opening bell.
After the close, AmTrust Financial Services Inc (NASDAQ:AFSI), Athersys Inc (NASDAQ:ATHX), Biostage Inc (OTC:BSTG), BlackRock Kelso Capital Corporation (NASDAQ:BKCC), Corecivic Inc (NYSE:CXW), FibroGen Inc (NASDAQ:FGEN) and Infinera Corporation (NASDAQ:INFN) are set to release earnings.
Market participants were also following U.S. President Donald Trump's Asia tour. Donald Trump arrived in South Korea on Tuesday after meeting with Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe over the weekend.
In an address to the South Korean parliament on Wednesday, Trump addressed tensions with North Korea, saying that it "has interpreted America's past restraint as weakness."
"This would be a fatal miscalculation. This is a very different administration than the United States has had in the past," he added.
Donald Trump is the first U.S. president to speak before South Korea's parliament since Bill Clinton in 1993. The U.S. president is scheduled to continue his tour in China later on Wednesday.