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Wednesday saw

edging higher following an

auction which saw markets gain a little ground. According to the

, futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 26 points to 12245. S&P 500 Index futures rose 3.2 points to 1263.30, while Nasdaq 100 futures rose 5 points to 2289.50. The article states that, “European equities edged higher Wednesday after a closely watched sale of Italian Treasury bills saw short-term borrowing costs fall sharply from elevated levels seen in November. Meanwhile, domestic U.S. economic data have provided a tailwind for equities in recent months on hopes the economy will avoid a double-dip recession. U.S. equities were underpinned Tuesday after the Conference Board's consumer-confidence index for December rose to an eight-month high.” Strategists at UBS wrote that, “The U.S. is heading into 2012 on a high from an equity-flow perspective as foreign buyers were double that of domestic names in net terms. There wasn't much news in general to trade from, but the relatively firm run of data throughout Q4 has provided plenty of room for optimism heading into next year." As the financial news remains muted during this week between Christmas and New Year, there will be no economic figures released on Wednesday. On Thursday, the weekly jobless claims estimates will be released, along with, “a December purchasing-managers index for the Chicago region and November home sales.” William Watts wrote that, “Most Asian markets declined Wednesday, although mainland Chinese stocks posted a rebound from 33-month lows set the previous session amid choppy trading conditions. U.S. equities posted a mixed finish on Tuesday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average ending a four-session winning streak to close 2.65 points lower at 12291.35. The S&P 500 Index ended the day up 0.1 point at 1265.43, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 6.56 points to 2625.20. The performance left the Dow up 6.2% on the year, while the S&P remains up 0.6% year-to-date. The Nasdaq Composite is off 1% from the end of last year. Nymex crude-oil futures slipped 56 cents in electronic trade to $100.78 a barrel. The euro hovered near unchanged versus the U.S. dollar at $1.3072, while the U.S. unit lost 0.3% versus the Japanese currency to trade at 77.84 yen.” According to

, “Borrowing costs declined at an Italian bond auction, easing concerns about lack of demand for sovereign debt in the country. Italy sold 9 billion euros of six-month Treasury bills at a rate of 3.251%, down from 6.504% at the last auction. Tomorrow, Italy will sell bonds maturing in 2014 to 2022. The government hopes to sell more than 20 billion euros in total through its auction series this week.” It is a quiet week, but this is fascinating news and it will be interesting to see how the U.S. stock futures continue to react.