U.S. stock index futures indicated a higher open Wednesday, boosted by some good news out of the housing sector.
The closely watched S&P/Case Shiller home price index, though backward-looking, indicated that April saw the third consecutive month of price increases. The report helped lift stock futures a day after another big selloff on Wall Street. though gains remained fairly tepid.
The market came under pressure on Monday on a raft of a bad news from Europe. Spain announced it had officially asked Brussels for a bailout for its beleaguered banks, and Cyprus said it was also applying for a bailout. Later in the day, credit rating agency Moody’s downgraded 28 Spanish banks.
European shares were mixed in early morning trade on Tuesday after sharp sell-offs in the previous three sessions.
In company news, News Corp is considering splitting its publishing assets, including the Wall Street Journal, from its entertainment properties, among them Fox News Channel, according to a Journal report.
Seagate Technology will be the newest addition to the Standard & Poor's 500 index, replacing Progress Energy, as of the market close Friday. Seagate shares rose more than 4 percent in premarket trading.
For-profit education firm Apollo Group could trade higher after the company reported earnings after the bell Monday of $1.20 a share, well ahead of expectations at 97 cents.
Among shares likely to be under pressure are those of Rosetta Genomics, a molecular diagnostics firm that announced plans to offer up to $35 million in ordinary shares to fund operations and other purposes. Shares fell more than 6 percent.
JPMorgan Chase is likely to trade higher after Goldman Sachs added the bank, which has suffered since disclosure of the "London Whale" trading losses, to its conviction buy list. JPM shares rose 1.2 percent premarket.
Morgan Stanley, which fell off the Goldman list, lost 1.6 percent.
One other piece of economic data today: Out at 10 a.m. New York time on Tuesday is the Conference Board’s consumer confidence index. Analysts polled by Briefing.com forecast the index fell to 64.0 in June, down from 64.9 in May.
In the U.S., the Treasury is set to auction $35 billion in 2-year notes on Tuesday, $35 billion in 5-year notes and $29 billion in 7-year notes. The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield rose to 1.62 percent after falling to 1.61 percent during Monday's stock market drop.
Commodities markets were mixed, with oil and metals lower while some grains moved higher.
