Investing.com – Wall Street futures pointed to a slightly higher open on Wednesday as investors looked ahead to a string of data stateside, following upbeat economic reports from China and Europe.
The blue-chip Dow futures gained 23 points, or 0.11%, at 7:04AM ET (11:04GMT), the S&P 500 futures advanced 3 points, or 0.12%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures traded up 15 points, or 0.27%.
Market players will digest the Chicago purchasing managers’ index for May at 9:45AM ET (13:45GMT), followed by April pending home sales just 15 minutes later.
The Federal Reserve’s (Fed) Beige Book will be released at 2:00PM ET (16:00GMT).
Also related to the central bank, Dallas Fed president Robert Kaplan and San Francisco Fed chief John Williams will make public appearances on Wednesday.
With the Fed’s next policy decision two weeks away, markets are pricing in the odds of a rate hike at 85%, according to Investing.com's Fed Rate Monitor Tool.
Meanwhile, oil prices fell around 2% on Wednesday, as rising output from Libya added to concerns about increasing U.S. production that is undermining OPEC-led production cuts aimed at tightening the market.
Investors also looked ahead to stockpile data from the American Petroleum Institute out later in the session. The report is released one day later than usual due to the Memorial Day holiday on Monday.
Official crude inventories from the Energy Information Administration will also be published one day later than normal on Thursday.
U.S. crude oil futures sank 1.99% to $48.67 at 7:06AM ET (11:06GMT), while Brent oil slumped 2.07% to $51.16.
Elsewhere, the focus was on cable, re-approaching a one-month low amid mounting political uncertainty in the U.K.
The British pound dropped on Wednesday after a new poll found that British Prime Minister Theresa May's Conservative Party risks falling short of an overall majority in the June 8 national election.
New constituency-by-constituency modeling by YouGov showed the Conservative Party might lose 20 of the 330 seats it holds while the opposition Labour Party could gain nearly 30 seats, The Times said.
The news came after a string of opinion polls show a narrowing lead for May's Conservatives, shaking the confidence among investors that she would easily win a majority in the election.
European stocks were mostly higher on Wednesday, after the release of the euro zone unemployment rate at an 8-year low of 9.3% and upbeat Chinese data lifted market sentiment.
Earlier, Asian shares closed mixed on Wednesday even as China re-opened after a two-day break and Chinese PMI data eased concerns of a slowdown. China's Shanghai Composite gained 0.2%, while Japan's Nikkei ended 0.2% lower.