U.S. stock futures on Wednesday edged lower to continue a choppy week of trade as Boeing became the latest major firm to lower its 2009 estimates. S&P 500 futures fell 2.7 points to 845.00 and Nasdaq 100 futures slipped 1.75 points to 1,326.20. Dow industrial futures slipped 26 points. On Tuesday, U.S. stocks clawed back about half of Monday's losses behind banks including Citigroup and Bank of America and technology firms. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told a Congressional panel that most U.S. banks have adequate capital and that there are signals that credit markets are on the mend. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 127 points, the S&P 500 added 17 points and the Nasdaq Composite rose 35 points. The earnings wave continued, with Boeing and WellPoint lowering 2009 guidance. Boeing shares edged up 1% in pre-market trade. But AT&T rose 4% as the telecom giant reported a 9% profit fall. After the close of trade, from Apple and eBay report results. Yahoo rose 3% as the online search firm reported a 78% profit drop and said it would cut 5% of its work force. Sandisk climbed 8% after a narrower-than-forecast loss for the memory chip maker. Roche slumped about 10% in Swiss trade as the company said a late-stage trial showed that its key Avastin cancer drug wasn't any better at preventing a recurrence of colon cancer than using chemotherapy alone. The economics calendar is on the light side, with data on U.S. house prices in February set for release at 10 a.m. Eastern. In the U.K., jobless claims rose to a 12-year high, though the figures were below market expectations. Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling delivers the U.K. budget in which he's expected to lower the government's view on how the country's economy will perform. Oil futures edged up 20 cents a barrel ahead of weekly energy inventories data, which could show a rise in inventories of 2.5 million barrels. "Today all eyes will definitely be on the EIA stats and in case of a larger-than-expected crude supply builds the chances of another drop could be heightened considerably," said analysts at ODL Securities. Asian stocks made slight gains, with the Nikkei 225 up 0.2% in Tokyo. In Europe, the Stoxx 500 added 0.4%. The dollar dropped 0.6% against the Japanese yen, and gold futures edged up nearly $4 an ounce. Yields on 10-year Treasury notes fell 3 basis points to 2.88%. Yields move in the opposite direction to prices.

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