(MENAFN- ProactiveInvestors) U.S. stock futures were little changed in early trading Wednesday as investors awaited Fed Chair Janet Yellen's second day of testimony on Capitol Hill after dovish remarks from the Fed Chair yesterday sent the Dow and the S&P 500 to new records.
Yellen will appear before the House Financial Services Committee today. On Tuesday Yellen announced that the Fed would decide on rates on a "meeting-by-meeting basis" with the timing of rate hikes largely dependent on data. She also emphasized that the labor market still needs improvement and that rates would change when the central bank was reasonably confident low inflation was moving towards the Fed's 2% target.
Also on the economic agenda today the government is set to release new home sales for January at 10:00am ET with economists expecting a 2.1% drop to an annual rate of 471000 units compared to December's 11.6% jump.
European markets were lower today with shares in London off the most while shares in China also closed down 0.6%. China's manufacturing sector expanded for the first time in four months in February surprising investors who were expecting a third period of contraction but export orders shrank at their fastest rate in 20 months.
Crude oil for April delivery edged up 20 cents to $49.48 a barrel in New York as investors awaited the latest round of supply data from the EIA and as Saudi Arabia's oil minister said crude demand is growing and markets are calm. Gold futures rose $12 to $1209 an ounce ahead of Yellen's second day of semi-annual Congressional testimony.
In corporate activity Target () shares rose premarket even though its current quarter profit outlook fell below estimates as the retailer said its sales for the holiday quarter beat the projections it gave last month.
Lowe's () reported quarterly results that topped forecasts and said comparable store sales increased a better-than-expected 7.3% during the most recent period.
Hewlett-Packard () topped estimates with earnings but its revenue fell short of expectations as the company also issued lighter than expected guidance due to a negative impact from a stronger dollar.
DreamWorks Animation () shed more than 7% premarket after its quarterly loss was wider than expected and as revenue also missed views. The movie studio said revenue would decline this year with only one theatrical release planned for 2015.
After the closing bell Wednesday () () and Liberty Interactive (NASDAQ:QVCA) will be among those headlining the quarterly results.
In other news () is planning to appeal a verdict to pay nearly $533 million after a federal jury found its iTunes software infringed three patents owned by Texas-based Smartflash.
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