By Polya Lesova, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch) — U.S. stock futures edged higher on Wednesday after the previous session’s selloff, as traders awaited data on the housing market and consumer prices.
Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJZ10 10,990, +6.00, +0.06%) gained 12 points to 10,996 and S&P 500 futures (SPZ10 1,177, +2.20, +0.19%) rose 2.3 points to 1,177.
The blue-chip Dow index (DJIA 11,024, -178.47, -1.59%) dropped 178.47 points, or 1.6%, on Tuesday, posting its largest point and percentage drop since Aug. 11.
Data on consumer prices and housing starts for October will be released at 8:30 a.m. U.S. Eastern Time.
“Today’s U.S. CPI release will be very interesting (and important) given the [Federal Reserve’s] concerns around the current low levels of inflation,” said strategists at Deutsche Bank in a note to clients.
The corporate calendar is fairly thin on Wednesday, with Target Corp. (TGT 53.79, -0.37, -0.68%) scheduled to report results. The retailer is expected to post third-quarter earnings of 68 cents a share, according to a survey by FactSet Research.
Car giant General Motors Co. said it will increase the size of its initial public offering to 478 million common shares from 365 million. The company previously announced an increase in the estimated price range for the offering to a range of $32 to $33 a share.
Shares of GlaxoSmithKline (GSK 38.54, -0.69, -1.76%) gained 2% in premarket trading following reports that a Food and Drug Administration panel backed approval of a new lupus drug jointly developed by Human Genome Sciences Inc. (HGSI 26.91, +1.03, +3.98%) and GlaxoSmithKline. Shares of Human Genome Sciences also rose 2% in premarket trading.
In Europe, stocks traded higher, recovering slightly after the previous session’s rout, as investors continued to watch developments around Ireland’s financial crisis.
Irish authorities will meet with officials from the European Union, International Monetary Fund and European Central Bank to decide the best way to provide any necessary support to address market risks.
The Stoxx Europe 600 index (ST:STOXX600 266.76, +0.78, +0.29%) gained 0.3% in intraday trading.
Asian stocks finished mostly lower overnight, with China’s Shanghai Composite falling sharply on growing concerns that officials will tighten monetary policy.
In the commodity markets, oil futures fell 80 cents to $81.54 a barrel in electronic trading on Globex.
Gold futures dropped $4.30 to $1,334.10 an ounce.
The dollar was little changed against major rivals. The euro edged up 0.1% to $1.3493.
