US Stock index futures point to lower open

U.S. stock index futures pointed to a lower open on Wall Street on Wednesday, with futures for the S&P 500, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq 100 down 0.3-0.5 percent.

At 4:55 a.m. EDT, the FTSEurofirst 300 index was down 0.3 percent at 975.24 points, snapping three days of gains, with banks and drugmakers the major losers.

There are no major U.S. companies reporting on Wednesday.

At 7 a.m. EDT, the Mortgage Bankers Association releases the Weekly Mortgage Market Index for the week ending September 4 versus the prior week. The mortgage market index read 554.1 and the refinancing index was 2,164.1 in the previous week.

At 7:45 a.m. EDT, ICSC/Goldman Sachs releases chain store sales for the week ending September 5 versus the prior week. In the previous week, sales fell 0.5 percent.

The Redbook releases its Retail Sales Index of department and chain store sales for September versus August, at 8:55 a.m. EDT. In the prior period, sales fell 0.6 percent.

The Federal Reserve issues the Beige Book, a summary of economic conditions in the 12 Fed districts at 2 p.m. EDT.

With an eye on strengthening its U.S. options-trading business, NYSE Euronext (NYX.N) (NYX.PA) plans to sell stakes in its NYSE Amex options unit to seven major Wall Street firms, the Wall Street Journal said on Wednesday.

U.S. stocks advanced on Tuesday on an uptick in corporate deal activity while the weak dollar led to gains in commodities, lifting shares of oil and mining companies.

The Dow Jones industrial average (.DJI) closed up 0.6 percent, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index (.SPX) rose 0.9 percent, and the Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC) gained 0.9 percent.

Shares of Microchip Technology Inc (MCHP.O) rose 1.7 percent to $27.54 after the bell on Tuesday after the chipmaker provided its second-quarter financial outlook.