Stock Futures Rise Ahead of Housing Data

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U.S. stock-index futures climbed on Wednesday as traders awaited the latest round of housing data and parsed through a slew of corporate news.

Today's Markets

As of 8:00 a.m. ET, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose 22 points, or 0.14%, to 16209, S&P 500 futures advanced 3 points, or 0.16%, to 1849 and Nasdaq 100 futures climbed 5.3 points, or 0.14%, to 3694.

Unusually bad weather has had an outsize impact on the American economy. One place where it has proven to be a particularly strong headwind is in the market for new home construction.

A report at 10:00 a.m. ET on sales of new, single-family homes could help shed more light on the situation. Economists expect the annual sales pace to have fallen to 400,000 units in January from 414,000 the month before.

On the corporate front, Target (NYSE:TGT) shares got a boost after the retailer posted a fourth-quarter beat despite a massive data breach during the three months.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) said in a regulatory filing it came to an agreement in principle with the Securities and Exchange Commission to settle a probe over crisis-era mortgage-backed bonds. The investment bank would pay a fine of $275 million as part of the agreement.

A Senate panel alleged Swiss bank Credit Suisse (NYSE:CS) helped clients hide billions of dollars in assets to evade U.S. taxes.

Elsewhere, U.S. crude oil futures climbed 64 cents, or 0.64%, to $102.48 a barrel. Wholesale New York Harbor gasoline dipped 0.05% to $2.797 a gallon. Gold dropped $8.40, or 0.63%, to $1,334 a troy ounce.