US pre-open: Wall Street stocks set for early gains

(Sharecast News) - Wall Street futures were pointing to a higher open on Wednesday following three down days, albeit on dwindling trading volumes ahead of the Easter break. As of 1026 GMT, futures tracking the Dow Jones Industrials were climbing 134 points to 39,814.0, alongside a 62.25 point advance in Nasdaq-100 mini futures to 18514.25.

On Tuesday night the American Petroleum Institute reported a 9.3m barrel weekly build in crude oil inventories.

That was pressuring front-dated West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures by 0.57% to $81.05 a barrel on NYMEX.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping met with U.S. business leaders on Wednesday in a bid to boost bilateral ties, calling on them to invest in his country and saying that he saw no need for the two economies to decouple.

Also overnight, Japanese finance minister, Shunichi Suzuki, brandished the threat of foreign exchange intervention as the yen probed its lowest levels in 34 years just shy of 152 against the U.S. dollar.

A move above 152 might open the door to q quick decline in the yen's value, according to market commentary.

On the company front, shares in perhaps the best known 'meme stock', Gamestop, were dropping 20% in pre-market trading after the video game retailer posted a 19% decline in fourth quarter sales to $1.79bn overnight.

At 1430 GMT the U.S. Department of Energy would publish its latest weekly inventory oil data.

No major economic reports were scheduled for release on Wednesday.