Investing.com -- U.S. stock futures edged higher Wednesday, continuing the recent positive run, helped by mostly positive quarterly corporate earnings.
By 06:30 ET (10:30 GMT), the Dow Futures contract was up 55 points, or 0.2%, S&P 500 Futures traded 3 points, or 0.1%, higher and Nasdaq 100 Futures climbed 24 points, or 0.2%.
The benchmark indices on Wall Street closed higher Tuesday, all registering their highest closes since April 2022 as largely healthy earnings have added to expectations that the U.S. economy can avoid a recession with the Federal Reserve near the end of its rate-hiking cycle.
The blue chip Dow Jones Industrial Average gained over 360 points, or 1.1%, its seventh straight positive close. The broad-based S&P 500 rose 0.7% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite jumped 0.8%.
Strong start to earnings season
The nascent earnings season has started strongly, as of the 38 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported results, 82% have exceeded expectations, according to FactSet data.
Solid numbers from Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) on Tuesday added to convincing earnings from the likes of JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM) and Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) at the end of last week.
The banking sector remains in focus Wednesday, with Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) due to report before the open. The investment bank is expected to report earnings per share of $3.46 on revenue of $10.7 billion, but could be impacted by the deal slump on Wall Street.
Other major companies such as streaming giant Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX), EV manufacturer Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA), tech behemoth IBM (NYSE:IBM) and United Airlines (NASDAQ:UAL) are scheduled to post earnings after the close.
Housing data slated for release
The economic data slated for release Wednesday centers around the real estate market, with housing starts expected to slow sharply in June, from the prior month’s extraordinary 21.7% jump, while the growth in building permits is also seen cooling.
The Federal Reserve meets next week, and is expected to raise interest rates another quarter of a percentage point as it tries to beat inflation back to its 2% target rate.
Crude market awaits official U.S. inventories
Oil prices stabilized Wednesday, with traders balancing declining U.S. inventories and concerns over China’s stuttering growth.
Data from the industry body American Petroleum Institute, released Tuesday, showed that U.S. crude stockpiles fell 0.8 million barrels last week, after a substantially bigger-than-expected build in the prior week.
Government data from the Energy Information Administration are due later in the session, for confirmation.
However, any gains are stifled by worries about demand from China, the largest importer in the world, after its economy barely grew in the second quarter.
By 06:30 ET, the U.S. crude futures traded 0.2% higher at $75.81 a barrel, while the Brent contract climbed 0.4% to $79.92.
Additionally, gold futures traded flat at $1,980.85/oz, while EUR/USD traded 0.1% lower at 1.1223.
(Oliver Gray contributed to this item.)