BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - The latest quarterly earnings might be
the focus on Wednesday. Early signs from the U.S. Futures Index suggest that
Wall Street might open lower.

Asian shares finished mostly down, while European shares are trading mostly
higher.

As of 8.05 am ET, the Dow futures were down 19.00 points, the S&P 500 futures
were sliding 10.75 points and the Nasdaq 100 futures were falling 52.00 points.

The U.S. major averages ended Tuesday narrowly mixed. The Nasdaq edged down
16.69 points or 0.1 percent to 16,332.56, the Dow crept up 31.99 points or 0.1
percent to 38,884.26 and the S&P 500 inched up 6.96 points or 0.1 percent to
5,187.70.

On the economic front, the Wholesale Preliminary Inventories for March will be
issued at 10.00 am ET. The consensus is down 0.4 percent, while it was up 0.5
percent in the previous month.

The Energy Information Administration or EIA's Petroleum Status Report for the
week is scheduled at 10.30 am ET. In the prior week, the crude oil inventories
were 7.3 million barrels and the gasoline inventories were up 0.3 million
barrels.

10-year Treasury Note auction will be held at 1.00 pm ET.

Fed Vice Chair Philip Jefferson will participate in a virtual moderated event
hosted by the Federal Reserve at 11.00 am ET.

Boston Fed President Susan Collins will participates in a fireside discussion
before the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan School of Management's
Challenges and Opportunities class at 11.45 am ET.

Asian stocks ended Wednesday's session on a muted note. Chinese markets fell on
profit taking. The benchmark Shanghai Composite index dropped 0.61 percent to
3,128.48.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index ended down 0.90 percent at 18,313.86.

Japanese markets led regional losses. The Nikkei average tumbled 1.63 percent to
38,202.37 while the broader Topix index settled 1.45 percent lower at 2,706.43.

Australian markets ended marginally higher. The benchmark S&P ASX 200 inched up
0.14 percent to 7,804.50 while the broader All Ordinaries index closed 0.14
percent higher at 8,076.70.



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