Futures on major U.S. stock indices point to higher opening on Wednesday on signals from U.S. Federal Reserve that it might enact another stimulus measure soon and better-than-expected results, outlook from Intel.
Futures on the S&P 500 are up 0.73 percent, futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average are up 0.60 percent and Nasdaq100 futures are up 0.83 percent.
On Tuesday, stocks grinded higher, turning positive after minutes from last month's FOMC meeting. The Federal Reserve said it was concerned inflation was too low, and suggested it might step up purchases of government debt securities.
On the earnings front, Intel shares will be on focus after the chip giant reported third quarter earnings per share of 52 cents on revenue that exceeded $11 billion for the first time. Analysts, on average, polled by Thomson Reuters expected Intel to earn 50 cents on revenue of $10.99 billion. It sees fourth quarter revenue of $11.4 billion, in line with analysts’ expectations.
JP Morgan Chase & Co. is due to report its third quarter results before the market opens. Analysts’ expect the bank to report earnings per share of $0.90 from $0.82 last year.
Apollo Group and Host Hotels & Resorts are the other major companies to report their quarterly numbers on Wednesday.
Google and General Electric Co are due to report their quarterly results during the week.
The euro gained 0.48 percent to 1.3992 against the dollar and the yen rose 0.19 percent against the greenback.
Crude oil futures rose 1.08 percent to $84.4/barrel and gold futures are up 0.92 percent.
European stock markets also positively reacted to the Fed minutes, with FTSE 100 up by 62.29 points, DAX30 up by 87.20 points and CAC 40 up by 54.10 points.
