Stock futures mixed as investors brace for retail sales data

Stock index futures pointed to a mixed open on Wall Street on Wednesday, with futures for the S&P 500 up 0.2 percent, Dow Jones futures flat and Nasdaq 100 futures down 0.1 percent at 4:40 a.m. EDT.

The tech sector will be in focus after the world's No. 1 chip maker Intel Corp said late on Tuesday its orders and billing patterns so far in the second quarter have been slightly better than expected. Shares of Intel traded in Frankfurt were up 3.2 percent.

The world's largest chip equipment maker, Applied Materials Inc , posted a quarterly loss as cost cuts failed to fully offset a steep drop in revenue, and its shares fell 2.5 percent in extended trade.

Chrysler LLC's bankruptcy may take as long as two years, instead of the two months that U.S. President Barack Obama suggested as a target, Bloomberg said, citing an administration official.

The biggest real-estate fund of Goldman Sachs is discussing debt restructuring with its lenders for its investments in Nevada casinos, German office buildings and a U.S. hotel chain, the Wall Street Journal reported.

On the macro front, investors were bracing for U.S. monthly retail sales data, looking for insight on consumer sentiment.

European stocks were mixed on Wednesday, as a drop in banking shares overshadowed gains in defensive stocks such as GlaxoSmithKline and Novartis , while energy shares such as Royal Dutch Shell climbed along with crude oil prices.

Investors were digesting mixed data from China. China's factory output growth slowed in April, but the pace of retail sales growth surprisingly accelerated, fuelling hopes that Chinese consumers are helping to compensate for weakness in the industrial sector.

On Tuesday, the Dow gained ground as investors scooped up defensive shares such as Pfizer

and shares of energy firms rose along with oil prices. But the S&P was little changed and the Nasdaq fell as financial and technology shares dropped after recent sharp gains.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> rose 50.34 points, or 0.60 percent, to 8,469.11. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> was off 0.89 points, or 0.10 percent, to 908.35. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> was down 15.32 points, or 0.88 percent, at 1,715.92.

Since reaching historic lows in early March, the Dow has surged 30.9 percent and the S&P 500 has soared 36.2 percent.

(Reporting by Blaise Robinson)