Wall Street Aims To Open Moderately Up

(RTTNews) - Early trends on the U.S. Futures Index suggest that Wall Street might open positive on Wednesday. The Fed's monetary policy announcement, the housing starts and weekly jobless claims might get much attention. The Federal Reserve is widely expected to leave rates unchanged.

Asian shares finished mostly higher, while European shares are broadly in the negative territory.

The unrest in the Middle East is closely watched by investors as there are suggestions that the U.S. might consider joining Israel in striking Iranian nuclear sites.

In the Asian trading session, oil prices eased, while gold was marginally lower.

As of 8.15 am ET, the Dow futures were progressing 28.00 points, the S&P 500 futures were adding 8.50 points and the Nasdaq 100 futures were up 48.50 points.

The U.S. major averages finished lower on Tuesday. The Nasdaq slid 180.12 points or 0.9 percent to 19,521.09, the S&P 500 decreased 50.39 points or 0.8 percent to 5,982.72 and the Dow fell 299.29 points or 0.7 percent to 42,215.80.

On the economic front, the Housing Starts and Permits for May will be issued at 8.30 am ET. The consensus for Starts is 1.360 million, while it was up 1.361 million in the prior month. Permits are expected to be up 1.430 million, while it was 1.412 million in April.

The Jobless Claims for the week is scheduled at 8.30 am ET. The consensus is 244K, while the initial claims was up 248K in the prior week.

Atlanta Fed Business Inflation Expectations for June will be released at 10.00 am ET. In the prior month, the expectations were up 2.5 percent.

The Energy Information Administration or EIA's Petroleum Status Report for the week will be published at 10.30 am ET. In the prior week, the Crude Oil Inventories were down 3.6 million barrels and the Gasoline inventories were up 1.5 million barrels.

EIA's Natural Gas Report for the week will be revealed at 12.00 pm ET. In the prior week, the gas stock was 109 bcf.

Six-month Treasury Bill auction will be held at 11.00 am ET. Two-year floating rate note or FRN Note announcement, five-year Treasury Note announcement and seven-year Treasury Note announcement will be held at 11.00 am ET.

The Federal Open Market Committee or FOMC announcement, will be at 2.00 pm ET. The consensus is 0 bp, while in the prior change was 0 bp.

The Fed Chair Press Conference will be held at 2.30 pm ET.

The Treasury International Capital for April will be published at 4.00 pm ET.

Asian stocks ended mixed on Wednesday. China's Shanghai Composite index finished marginally higher at 3,388.81.

Hong Kong's benchmark Hang Seng index tumbled 1.12 percent to 23,710.69.

Japanese markets rose sharply to hit a four-month high. The Nikkei average jumped 0.90 percent to 38,885.15 while the broader Topix index settled 0.77 percent higher at 2,808.35.

Australian markets ended slightly lower. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 dipped 0.12 percent to 8,531.20. The broader All Ordinaries index ended down 0.15 percent at 8,757.90.

European shares are trading mostly lower. Among the major indexes in the region, the CAC 40 Index of France is declining 12.37 points or 0.16 percent. The German DAX is sliding 50.39 points or 0.22 percent, the U.K. FTSE 100 Index is gaining 10.73 points or 0.12 percent.

The Swiss Market Index is falling 18.58 points or 0.15 percent.

The Euro Stoxx 50 Index, which is a compilation of 50 blue chip stocks across the euro area, is down 0.24 percent.