US Stock Futures Suggest Slow Start; Earnings From Cisco, Macy's And Deere, And PPI Data Should Influence Direction

Stock futures point to a subdued start Wednesday after the run-up of the past few sessions while earnings from corporate majors as well as economic data should influence the rest of the session.

Futures on the Dow and Nasdaq were nearly flat while futures on the S&P 500 were down 0.05 percent. On Tuesday, the Dow inched up 0.12 percent while the S&P 500 was nearly flat, up 0.04 percent, while the Nasdaq fell 0.33 percent.

On the earnings front, Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO), Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) and Macy's, Inc .(NYSE:M) are among the companies scheduled to announce quarterly results Wednesday, while in economic data, the producer price index for April will be released at 8:30 a.m. EDT.

In Europe, markets were weaker with the Stoxx Europe 600 index down 0.19 percent while the FTSE 100 was down 0.07 percent. Germany’s DAX-30 slipped 0.03 percent while France's CAC-40 fell 0.15 percent.

In Asia, Japan's Nikkei-225 fell 0.14 percent and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 slipped 0.03 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was up 1.03 percent while the Shanghai Composite dropped 0.14 percent. South Korea’s Kospi was up 1.41 percent while India's BSE Sensex was trading down 0.16 percent.