Wall Street Set To Open Broadly Higher

(RTTNews) - Tension in the Middle East is escalating as the U.S. and Saudi jointly hit Iran's militia group centers. At least 20 people were killed.

Oil prices are surging on Wednesday. Brent crude futures gaining toward $87.40 a barrel.

Gold prices were up. Spot gold edged up by 0.2 percent to $4,035.65 an ounce while U.S. gold futures were down 0.1 percent at $4,034.50.

Early signs from the U.S. Futures Index suggest that Wall Street might open broadly up.

As of 8.05 am ET, the Dow futures were down 244.00 points, the S&P 500 futures were adding 9.25 points and the Nasdaq 100 futures were progressing 40.50 points.

The U.S. major averages finished higher on Tuesday. The Dow jumped 537.24 points or 1 percent to 52,747.32. The S&P 500 also rose 15.60 points or 0.2 percent to 7,428.78, but the tech-heavy Nasdaq dipped 55.17 points or 0.2 percent to 24,876.91.

On the economic front, the Energy Information Administration or EIA's Petroleum Status Report for the week will be published at 10.30 am ET. In the prior week, the crude oil inventories were up 2.0 million barrels and the gasoline inventories were up 0.8 million barrels.

Survey of Business Uncertainty for July will be released at 11.00 am ET. Sales growth for June was 3.66 percent.

Two-year Floating Rate Note or FRN auction will be held at 11.30 am ET.

The Federal Open Market Committee or FOMC meeting announcement is scheduled at 2.00 pm ET. The consensus for change is 0 bp, while it was 0 bp in the prior month. The federal funds rate is projected in a range of 3.5 to 3.75 percent.

Fed Chair Press Conference will be held at 2.30 pm ET.

Asian stocks ended mixed on Wednesday. China's Shanghai Composite index rose 0.40 percent to 3,828.47. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index jumped 1.96 percent to 25,807.92.

Japanese markets fell sharply. The Nikkei average fell 1.49 percent to 61,434.19 while the broader Topix index closed 0.26 percent higher at 3,974.03.

Australian markets rallied. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 jumped 1.01 percent to 9,038.60. The broader All Ordinaries index settled 0.96 percent higher at 9,199.70.