U.S. futures higher ahead of EU summit; Dow Jones up 0.60%

Investing.com - U.S. stock futures pointed to a higher open on Wednesday, as investors eyed the outcome of a key European summit on the region's sovereign debt crisis.

Ahead of the open, the Dow Jones Industrial Average futures pointed to a rise of 0.60%, S&P 500 futures signaled a 0.63% increase, while the Nasdaq 100 futures indicated a 0.61% gain.

Market sentiment weakened after a meeting of European finance ministers, scheduled to take place ahead of Wednesday's summit, was cancelled, weighing on expectations for a breakthrough on a plan to solve the region's debt crisis.

Ahead of the summit, incoming European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said European leaders must "immediately" activate facilities to confront the crisis, but added that each national government has to take "resolute and lasting" action to stabilize its own public finances.

Online shopping company, Amazon.com saw shares tumble 4.40% after reporting a far weaker-than-expected outlook for the holiday season.

Also in earnings news, airplane maker Boeing declined 1.59%, despite announcing earnings of USD1.46 per share, beating analysts' expectations. The report came the same day the company's 787 Dreamliner was due to make its first commercial flight from Tokyo to Hong Kong.

Elsewhere, the financial sector broadly added to losses, as shares in Bank of America plummeted 3.87% and Goldman Sachs tumbled 3.40%, while JP Morgan and Citigroup dropped 3.12% and 2.22%.

Meanwhile, Netflix extended Tuesday's losses with shares sinking 34.95% after the video rental company said that it lost more than 800,000 U.S. subscribers in the third quarter, more than the about 600,000 it had forecast in September.

On the upside, Sprint Nextel rose 0.37% after the company announced losses of 10 cents per share in the third quarter, still better than expectations. 

Other stocks in focus included Visa Inc and ConocoPhillips, due to report quarterly results later in the day.

Across the Atlantic, European stock markets were higher. The EURO STOXX 50 rose 0.49%, France’s CAC 40 advanced 0.58%, Germany's DAX climbed 0.46%, while Britain's FTSE 100 posted a 0.38% gain.

During the Asian trading session, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index eased down 0.1%, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index shed 0.15%.

Later in the day, the U.S. was to release government data on durable goods orders, as well as official data on new home sales and crude oil stockpiles.