Lack Of Stimulus Signal From Fed Drags Down US Stock Futures

U.S. stock index futures point to lower opening Wednesday as investors were disheartened after the Federal Reserve gave no indication of stimulus measures to boost the economic growth.

Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were down 0.28 percent, futures on the Standard & Poor's 500 index were down 0.22 percent and futures on the Nasdaq 100 index were down 0.18 percent.

Investors will be watchful as U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will continue with the delivery of his semi-annual testimony to the Congress Wednesday.

The U.S. Census Bureau's housing starts, measuring the change in the annualized number of residential buildings that began construction, will be reported Wednesday. It is expected to rise to 745,000 in June, up from 708,000 in May.

The Census Bureau will report Wednesday building permits, which measures the change in the number of new building permits issued by the government. It is expected to fall to 765,000 in June, down from 784,000 in May.

On Tuesday, the U.S. markets rose as investor sentiment turned positive following the better-than-expected earnings from Coca-Cola and Goldman Sachs. Coca-Cola reported that adjusted earnings grew to $1.22 per share in the second quarter from $1.17 per share in the same period last year. Goldman Sachs reported that the second quarter net earnings declined to $1.78 per share, down from $1.85 per share in the same period last year. But it beat the analysts' projection of $1.19 per share as compiled by Thompson Reuters.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 0.62 percent, the S&P 500 Index advanced 0.74 percent and the Nasdaq Composite Index was up 0.45 percent.

Major European indices rose but investors remained cautious as there were no hints of quantitative easing measures from policy makers globally to revive the global economic growth. London's FTSE 100 was up 14.16 points, Germany's DAX 30 Index rose 20.70 points and France's CAC 40 advanced 18.69 points.

Asian stocks made losses as market sentiment plunged after Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's statement Tuesday that the slackening economic growth would result in rising job losses.