Stocks May Open Roughly Flat Ahead Of Fed Speeches - U.S. Commentary

(RTTNews) - Stocks may show a lack of direction in early trading on Wednesday following the notable rebound seen in the previous session. The major index futures are currently pointing to a roughly flat open for the markets, with the Dow futures up by just 7 points.

Traders may be reluctant to make any significant moves ahead of remarks by a number of Federal Reserve officials, including Fed Chair Janet Yellen.

Yellen is scheduled to testify before the House Financial Services Committee, although the hearing is expected to focus on the Fed's supervision of big banks.

Minnesota Fed President Neel Kashkari, St. Louis Fed President James Bullard, and Chicago Fed President Charles Evans are also due to speak on the day.

Additionally, Cleveland's Loretta Mester and Kansas City's Esther George, who both voted to raise interest rates at the last meeting, are scheduled to deliver remarks after the close of trading.

Traders are likely to keep an eye on the remarks for any hints regarding the likelihood of a rate hike before the end of the year.

On the U.S. economic front, the Commerce Department recently released a report showing that durable goods orders came in flat in the month of August.

The Commerce Department said durable goods orders were virtually unchanged in August after jumping by a revised 3.6 percent in July.

Economists had expected orders to pull back by about 1.4 percent compared to the 4.4 percent spike that had been reported for the previous month.

Excluding orders for transportation equipment, durable goods orders fell by 0.4 percent in August after surging up by 1.1 percent in July. The drop matched economist estimates.

After fluctuating early in the session, stocks moved notably higher over the course of the trading day on Tuesday. With the upward move on the day, the major averages largely offset the losses posted on Monday.

The major averages moved roughly sideways going into the close, hovering firmly in positive territory. The Dow climbed 133.47 points or 0.7 percent to 18,228.30, the Nasdaq advanced 48.22 points or 0.9 percent to 5,305.71 and the S&P 500 rose 13.83 points or 0.6 percent to 2,159.93.

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in another mixed performance during trading on Wednesday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index tumbled by 1.3 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index edged up by 0.2 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets have all shown strong moves back to the upside on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index has advanced by 0.9 percent, the French CAC 40 Index and the German DAX Index are both up by 1 percent.

In commodities trading, crude oil futures are climbing $0.45 to $45.12 a barrel after slumping $1.26 to $44.67 a barrel in the previous session. Meanwhile, an ounce of gold is trading at $1,328.90, down $1.50 from the previous session's close of $1,330.40. On Tuesday, gold fell $13.70.

On the currency front, the U.S. dollar is trading at 100.61 yen compared to the 100.43 yen it fetched at the close of New York trading on Tuesday. Against the euro, the dollar is valued at $1.1229 compared to yesterday's $1.1215.