US Stock Futures Point to Higher Open

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NEW YORK — Stock futures indicated a modestly higher open to trading Wednesday as investors awaited key readings on the economy, including orders for big-ticket manufactured goods and existing home sales.

Investors keen to know the health of U.S. manufacturing and hoping for signs the housing downturn has reached a bottom were likely waiting for direction from the day's economic releases. The Commerce Department reports October orders for durable goods at 8:30 a.m. EST. Then, the National Association of Realtors releases data on October sales of existing homes at 10 a.m. EST.

Later, the Federal Reserve puts out its survey of regional economic conditions, at 2 p.m. EST.

Retail news was encouraging. Online holiday shopping has gotten off to a strong start, according to ComScore Inc. The Internet research company said consumers spent $733 million online on Monday, the official kickoff to the cyber shopping season, up 21 percent from the same day last year.

Oil prices continued to fall on Wednesday, easing the pressures of inflation. A barrel of light, sweet crude fell 13 cents to $94.29 in premarket trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Dow Jones industrials futures rose 35, or 0.30 percent, to 12,990, while Standard & Poor's 500 index futures rose 4.90, or 0.34 percent, to 1,431.30, and Nasdaq 100 index futures jumped 10.25 points, or 0.50 percent, to 2,042.75.

Wall Street has had an erratic start to the week. The Dow industrials plunged 240 points on Monday — pushing the index to the level of a 10 percent correction — only to swing 215 points higher on Tuesday. Investors contending with the credit market crisis and losses at major financial institutions got relief on Tuesday when the investment arm of Arab city state Abu Dhabi injected $7.5 billion in capital to Citigroup Inc., the nation's largest bank.

Late Tuesday, Wells Fargo & Co. projected $1.4 billion in pretax losses on home equity loans that borrowers have stopped repaying amid a worsening housing slump. The losses at the fifth-largest U.S. bank were substantially less than charges taken by its larger competitors.

Bond prices fell, as yields rose. The benchmark 10-year Treasury note yielded 4 percent, up from 3.95 late Tuesday.

Gold retreated as the dollar bounced back against other world currencies.

Overseas stock markets were mixed. Britain's FTSE 100 rose 0.64 percent; Germany's DAX index rose 0.94 percent and France's CAC-40 gained 0.53 percent. In Asia, Japan's Nikkei stock average closed down 0.45 percent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index rose 0.59 percent.

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