MARKET SNAPSHOT: U.S. Stock-index Futures Point To Lackluster Open

Adobe rallies after earnings beat forecasts

U.S. stock-index futures pared earlier modest losses as oil prices rebounded following comments from an oil minister about the possibility of deepening production cuts, alleviating some of the downward pressure on the embattled oil and energy sector.

Crude-oil prices, which entered bear-market territory after falling 20% on Tuesday, crept higher after Iran's oil minister Bijan Zanganeh said members of Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries are considering further oil output cuts, but should wait to see the effect of the current reduced level of production.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average were unchanged at 21,436, while those for the S&P 500 index was off by a point to 2,436. Futures for the Nasdaq-100 index were up 6 points, or 0.1%, to 5,738.7.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index was the biggest decliner in Tuesday's session, down 0.8% (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-stocks-aim-for-record-open-as-tech-rebound-continues-2017-06-20). Over the past two weeks, the Nasdaq has suffered sharp losses on concerns that high-value tech industry stocks are in a bubble.

The S&P 500 index and Dow average shed 0.7% and 0.3% respectively on Tuesday. That drive lower came after oil prices slid 2.2% (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/oil-hovers-at-seven-month-low-as-investors-weigh-up-supply-issues-2017-06-20) to close at the lowest level since September 16.

Oil blues: But crude oil traded slightly higher at $43.73 a barrel, while Brent picked up 0.4% to $46.21.

At 10:30 a.m. Eastern, the weekly supply report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration is due. Investors are waiting to see if stockpiles are reducing. The American Petroleum Institute said Tuesday that oil stockpiles fell last week (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/api-data-show-a-weekly-decline-in-us-crude-supply-sources-say-2017-06-20), but that gasoline supplies continued to rise as American refiners run at record levels.

Energy-related companies traded mixed ahead of the open, with shares of Schlumberger Ltd.(SLB) and Marathon Oil Corp. (MRO) were down 0.2% while Anadarko Petroleum Corp. (APC) and Transocean Ltd. gained about 1%.

Stocks to watch: Shares of Red Hat Inc.(RHT) jumped 10% in thin premarket trading after the open-source software company late Tuesday posted earnings ahead of forecasts (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/red-hat-jumps-to-highest-price-levels-since-dot-com-boom-2017-06-20).

Adobe Systems Inc.(ADBE) climbed 3.3% ahead of the bell. The software company late Tuesday beat Wall Street forecasts with record quarterly revenue (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/adobe-rises-to-record-levels-after-beating-earnings-expectations-2017-06-20).

La-Z-Boy Inc.(LZB) could also move, after rising more than 7% in Tuesday's after-hours trading following better-than-expected earnings (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/la-z-boy-stock-rallies-on-companys-q4-earnings-sales-beat-2017-06-20).

Shares of Advanced Micro Devices Inc.(AMD) picked up 2.1% after the chip maker on Tuesday launched a new generation of chips (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/amd-launches-new-epyc-chips-in-direct-challenge-to-intel-2017-06-20) for the servers that drive computing in data centers, seen as a direct challenge to Intel Corp.(INTC). Intel shares lost 1.4% in Wednesday's premarket trade.

After the market closes on Wednesday, software giant Oracle Corp.(ORCL) will report quarterly results (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/oracle-earnings-time-for-results-to-match-the-bluster-2017-06-20).

Technology shares overall reacted little to reports that Uber CEO Travis Kalanick has stepped down from his post as chief executive officer of the privately held ride-hailing company (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/uber-ceo-travis-kalanick-ousted-after-shareholder-revolt-2017-06-21).

Economic news: On Wednesday, the only top-tier economic update is a report on existing-home sales for May, due at 10 a.m. Eastern.

Other markets:Stocks in Asia closed mostly lower (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/global-oil-slump-weighs-on-asian-markets-2017-06-20), but with the Shanghai Composite Index bucking the negative trend and rising 0.5%. The positive close in China came after MSCI Inc. late Tuesday said it would include Chinese stocks in its emerging-markets index (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/msci-to-add-222-china-a-shares-in-emerging-markets-index-2017-06-20).

European stocks were mired in red (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/european-stocks-pushed-down-led-by-french-shares-oil-prices-2017-06-21) as energy stocks were hurt by oil's slide and as France's CAC index fell 0.8%. The pound dropped to a two-month in early trade (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/pound-hits-2-month-low-as-doubts-over-support-for-uk-government-weigh-2017-06-21), but jumped to $1.2683 after a Bank of England policy maker talked about withdrawal monetary stimulus.

Gold was up 0.1% at $1,244.50 an ounce, while the ICE Dollar Index fell 0.2%, its first loss in three sessions.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 21, 2017 08:59 ET (12:59 GMT)