US Stock Futures Point To Slightly Lower Opening Wednesday

Futures on major U.S. indices point to a slightly lower opening Wednesday ahead of the Commerce Dept.'s retail sales report and the Labor Dept.'s core Producer Price Index.

Futures on the S&P 500 are down 0.09 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures are down 0.13 percent. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average are down 0.03 percent.

Investors are likely to focus on the retail sales report and the producer price index, both reported on Wednesday. The May retail sales report, which measures the change in the total value of inflation-adjusted sales at the retail level, is expected to decline 0.2 percent.

The May Producer Price Index (PPI), which measures the change in the price of goods sold by manufacturers is expected to decline 0.6 percent.

Market sentiment may be affected by increasing concerns about the debt crisis lingering over the euro zone amid the worry that the contagion is spreading to Italy, which faces rising borrowing costs.

On Tuesday, U.S. markets were up as investor confidence grew following growing expectations for more stimulus measures by policy makers, which resulted from a remark for more monetary easing by Charles Evans, president of the Fed's Chicago bank. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 1.3 percent, the S&P 500 Index advanced 1.2 percent and the Nasdaq Composite Index was up 1.2 percent.

Major European indices were in the green following an overnight rally on Wall Street amid anticipation that the U.S. Federal Reserve would announce further quantitative easing to support the economy. London's FTSE 100 rose by 24.90 points, Germany's DAX 30 index gained 43.88 points and France's CAC 40 moved up by 17.73 points.

Asian markets rose Wednesday following global cues but remained cautious as concerns over the euro zone debt crisis continued to worry the investors.