Investing.com – U.S. stock futures were flat Wednesday as investors digested earnings news and waited for the second day of testimony from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.
The S&P 500 futures was flat at 2.811.25 as of 6:56 AM ET ( 10:56 GMT) while Dow futures increased six points or 0.02% to 25,112.0. Meanwhile tech heavy Nasdaq 100 futures lost six points or 0.08% to 7,415.75.
Powell is expected to deliver his semiannual testimony to the House Financial Services Committee at 10:00 AM ET (14:00 GMT). At his speech on Tuesday before the Senate Banking Committee, Powell reiterated the central bank should gradually increase interest rates. However, global trade tensions and fiscal policy remain uncertain, he added.
Earnings season continues on Wednesday, with Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) surging 1.55% after its earnings came in higher than expected. IBM (NYSE:IBM), American Express (NYSE:AXP) and eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY) are expected to report after the closing bell.
Meanwhile Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) rallied 0.66% while Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRKa) gained 1.99% after Warren Buffett's firm loosened its policy on stock buybacks.
Elsewhere Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) was down 1.68% while Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) inched down 0.08%.
In economic news, building permits and housing starts come out at 8:30 AM ET (12:30 GMT).
In Europe stocks were mostly up. Germany’s DAX rose 79 points or 0.63% while in France the CAC 40 increased 25 points or 0.48% and in London, the FTSE 100 was up 43 points or 0.57%. Meanwhile the pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 rose 20 points or 0.58% while Spain’s IBEX 35 inched down five points or 0.06%.
In commodities, gold futures fell 0.37% to $1,222.80 a troy ounce while crude oil futures decreased 0.52% to $66.81 a barrel. The U.S. dollar index which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, was up 0.36% to 95.07.