Investing.com - U.S. stock markets pointed to a muted open on Wednesday morning, as investors eyed more corporate earnings while monitoring movements in oil prices.
In addition, headlines from Washington will continue to dictate market sentiment as traders focus on President Donald Trump for further details on his promises of tax reform, infrastructure spending and deregulation as well as trade policies.
The blue-chip Dow futures dipped 8 points, or less than 0.1%, at 6:45AM ET (11:45GMT), the S&P 500 futures was flat, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures was little changed.
The S&P 500 ended barely higher on Tuesday while the Nasdaq managed to scratch out a new record as gains in big tech names countered energy declines.
On the earnings front, Time Warner (NYSE:TWX), Allergan (NYSE:AGN), GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE:GSK), Humana (NYSE:HUM), Goodyear Tire (NASDAQ:GT), Carlyle Group (NASDAQ:CG) and Owens Corning (NYSE:OC) are among the major companies scheduled to report before the bell.
Whole Foods (NASDAQ:WFM) reports after the bell, as does Prudential Financial (NYSE:PRU) and Suncor Energy (NYSE:SU).
Meanwhile, the U.S. Energy Information Administration will release its official weekly oil supplies report at 10:30AM ET (15:30GMT) Wednesday, amid analyst expectations for a rise of 2.6 million barrels.
Oil prices sank to the lowest level in about three weeks after the American Petroleum Institute said that U.S. oil inventories rose by a whopping 14.2 million barrels in the week ended February 3.
U.S. crude fell 57 cents, or 1.1%, to $51.59, while Brent slumped 44 cents to $54.62 a barrel.
Other than the EIA data, there are no other major economic reports or Federal Reserve speakers on tap Wednesday.
Elsewhere, European stock markets were slightly higher in mid-morning trade, with Germany's DAX up 0.2%, as earnings season continues to be the main focus for investors.
Earlier, in Asia, markets ended mostly higher, with the Shanghai Composite in China and the Nikkei in Japan both closing up about 0.5%.
In the currency market, the dollar remained moderately higher against other major currencies as political uncertainty in the U.S. and Europe continued to dominate market sentiment.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was up 0.2% at 100.55 in early trade, pulling away from last week's two-month low of 99.19.