US Stock Futures Up; Fed Minutes In Focus

US stock futures are higher this morning, ahead of minutes of the recent Fed meeting. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 26 points to 12,611.00 and S&P 500 index futures rose 2.20 points to 1,337.70. Nasdaq 100 futures gained 2.75 points to 2,580.75. US stocks closed lower on Tuesday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropping 0.65% to 12,653.12, the S&P 500 index falling 0.81% to 1,341.47 and the Nasdaq 100 index declining 1% to 2,902.33. Data on international trade For May will be released at 8:30 am ET. Data on wholesale trade for May will be released at 10:00 am ET. The minutes of the recent Federal Open Market Committee meeting will be released at 2 p.m. ET. Northern Technologies International

is estimated to report its Q3 earnings at $0.41 per share on revenue of $7.80 million. Marriott International

is estimated to post its Q2 EPS at $0.42 on revenue of $2.84 billion. Itron

is estimated to post its Q2 earnings at $0.95 per share on revenue of $565.33 million. Texas Industries

is estimated to post a Q4 loss at $0.34 per share on revenue of $182.77 million. Voxx International

reported a wider-than-expected first-quarter loss. Goldcorp

lowered its 2013 production forecast. OCZ Technology Group

reported a wider-than-expected quarterly loss. European markets were mostly lower today. The STOXX Europe 600 Index fell 0.28%, London's FTSE 100 Index dropped 0.40%, French CAC 40 Index declined 0.62% and German DAX 30 index rose 0.13%. Asian markets ended mostly lower, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average falling 0.08%, China's Shanghai Composite rising 0.51% and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 dropping 0.07%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 0.12% India's Sensex fell 0.73%. Nymex crude-oil futures gained $0.92 to $84.83 a barrel. Gold for August delivery dropped $3.50 to $1,576.30 per ounce. The dollar index (DXY) declined 0.23% to 83.22, from 83.377 in late North American trading on Tuesday. The dollar fell 0.19% against the Japanese yen to trade at ¥79.28, down from ¥79.44. The euro gained 0.2% against the dollar to trade at $1.2274.