US pre-open: Stocks to nudge up ahead of FOMC minutes

US futures pointed to a marginally firmer open on Wall Street on Wednesday following record highs in the previous session, as investors looked to the minutes of the latest FOMC meeting.

At 1205 GMT, Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq futures were up 0.1%, while S&P futures were flat, with volumes likely to be lighter than usual ahead of the Thanksgiving Holiday on Thursday. On Tuesday, all three indices hit record highs as tech stocks rallied, with the likes of Facebook, Netflix and Amazon all in the black.

Investors will eye minutes from the Federal Reserve's latest meeting at 1900 GMT.

Konstantinos Anthis at ADS Securities said: "This morning the dollar Index dropped below the 94.00 mark extending its pullback after the gains we saw on Monday. Today it might get some support from the FOMC minutes release that should reaffirm traders' conviction that the US central bank will raise rates again in December.

"A rate hike next month is fully priced in by now however given the lack of any other catalysts and with dollar traders desperate for something positive to latch on to, there might be scope for the dollar to recover today. The instruments to look for opportunities are the Japanese yen and gold."

MBA mortgage applications are at 1200 GMT, while initial jobless claims and durable goods orders are at 1330 GMT and the Michigan consumer sentiment index is at 1500 GMT.

Jobless claims are expected to show a drop to 240,000 last week from 249,000 the week before, while the Michigan sentiment index is expected to nudge up to 98.0 in November from 97.8 the month before.

In corporate news, Hewlett Packard was weaker in pre-market trade after it said late on Tuesday that chief executive Meg Whitman is leaving and issued a disappointing first-quarter outlook.

Elsewhere, shares of Deere & Co were likely to be active after the tractor maker posted a 79% jump in profit for the fourth quarter.

Salesforce was in the red after its fourth-quarter earnings guidance late on Tuesday missed expectations, although quarterly results were solid, while Rockwell Automation was likely to be in focus after it rejected an unsolicited buyout bid from Emerson.