Wall Street set for slightly higher open

Futures on major U.S. stock indices point to modestly higher opening on Wednesday with futures on the S&P 500 up 0.10 percent, futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.10 percent and Nasdaq100 futures up 0.25 percent.

On Tuesday, US stocks finished narrowly mixed in very light holiday trading as the bitter cold weather in the eastern U.S. helped to push up energy stocks. Traders seemed to shrug off an unexpected dip in consumer confidence and more bad news on housing prices.

No major economic data is due to be released on Wednesday.

On the corporate front, shares of Allstate Corp and Bank of America (BOA) will be on focus after Allstate Corp sued Countrywide Financial Corp with a $700 million investment in residential mortgage-backed securities.

In Asia, China's central bank raised rediscount rates for banks for the first time in two years and also raised the one-year relending rate, in yet another indication that bank is serious about tightening policy. People's Bank of China raised the rediscount rate to 2.25 percent from 1.8 percent, and the relending rate to 3.85 percent.

The euro advanced 0.19 percent to 1.3140 against the dollar and the yen gained 0.23 percent against the greenback.

Crude oil futures declined 0.50 percent to $90.99/barrel and gold futures gained 0.01 percent.

European stock markets are currently trading mixed with FTSE 100 down by 24.78 points, DAX30 up by 24.35 points and CAC 40 up by 33.59 points.