US Stock Futures Suggest Yet Another Upbeat Open; Trade Balance And New Home Sales Data Awaited

After the past two to three disappointing trading sessions, stocks look set to recover some lost ground and open on a positive note on Wednesday.

Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average, or DJIA, were up 0.18 percent, while futures on the Standard & Poor's 500 Index were up 0.2 percent, and those on the Nasdaq Composite Index were up 0.25 percent. On Tuesday, the Dow Jones index and the S&P 500 fell for a third consecutive trading session while it was the second straight fall for the Nasdaq.

"It's likely that markets will be in a holding pattern as we head into the business end of the week that starts with ADP employment [on Wednesday], the ECB on Thursday and ending with payrolls on Friday," Jim Reid, an analyst with Deutsche Bank, said in a market report, CNNMoney reported.

Trade balance data for October is scheduled for an 8:30 a.m. EST release while new home sales data, for September and October, are due at 10 a.m. EST. Also due at 10 a.m. is the non-manufacturing ISM index for November, which indicates how sectors in the non-manufacturing economy -- including agriculture, mining, construction, transportation, communications, wholesale trade and retail trade -- are doing.

Meanwhile, later in the week, payroll, jobless claims and GDP data are due on Thursday. And, data on unemployment for November are expected to be released on Friday.

In Europe, stocks were mixed on a data-heavy day and the Stoxx Europe 600 index was trading down 0.15 percent and the FTSE 100 was down 0.1 percent. Germany’s DAX-30 was up 0.14 percent and France's CAC-40 was up 0.23 percent.

In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei was steeply down, plunging 2.17 percent while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.34 percent. The Shanghai Composite index was up 1.31 percent while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was down 0.76 percent. South Korea’s KOSPI Composite index was down 1.12 percent and India’s BSE Sensex ended the day down 0.7 percent.