Investing.com - U.S. stock futures pointed to a lower open on Wednesday morning, as a renewed slump in oil prices sapped investor appetite for riskier assets.
The blue-chip Dow futures inched down 12 points, or less than 0.1%, by 6:45AM ET (1045GMT), the S&P 500 futures shed 5 points, or about 0.2%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures lost 17 points, or 0.3%.
U.S. equities closed lower Tuesday, pulling back from record highs, as a sharp drop in oil prices pressured energy stocks.
Oil will be a focus in the markets again Wednesday, with U.S. oil inventory data expected at 10:30AM ET (1430GMT). Analysts expect crude oil inventories dropped by around 2.1 million barrels at the end of last week, while gasoline supplies are seen increasing by 443,000 barrels and distillates are forecast to gain about 465,000 barrels.
Crude prices fell further into a bear market in early trade. U.S. crude was at $43.37 a barrel, down 14 cents, while Brent shed 22 cents to $45.80, after losing around 2% on Tuesday.
The slide in energy costs boosted bond prices and flattened yield curves as investors priced in lower inflation for longer.
Besides oil, market players will focus on U.S. housing data to gauge if a recent downtick in consumer spending and inflation is translating into lower home prices and slack in sales.
The National Association of Realtors is to release data on existing home sales for May at 10:00AM ET (1400GMT) amid forecasts for a decline of 0.7% to 5.55 million.
Meanwhile, earnings expected Wednesday include CarMax (NYSE:KMX), Winnebago Industries (NYSE:WGO), and Actuant (NYSE:ATU) before the bell. Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) is reported after the close.
In other markets, European stocks fell in a broad decline, heading for their worst back-to-back drop in a month, as oil, financial and tech shares struggled.
Earlier, in Asia, markets ended mostly in negative territory, though mainland markets were resilient after MSCI Inc. said it would include Chinese stocks in its emerging-markets index.