By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The major US index futures are pointing to a roughly flat opening on Wednesday following the strength seen in the previous session.
Traders may be reluctant to make any significant moves ahead of the release of the minutes of the latest Federal Reserve meeting, which may shed some additional light on the outlook for interest rates.
After moving to the upside early in the session, stocks remained mostly positive throughout the trading day on Tuesday. With the upward move on the day, the major averages once again reached new record closing highs.
The major averages ended the day firmly in positive territory. The Dow advanced 118.95 points or 0.6 percent to 20,743.00, the Nasdaq rose 27.37 points or 0.5 percent to 5,895.95 and the S&P 500 climbed 14.22 points or 0.6 percent to 2,365.38.
Stocks continued to benefit from recent upward momentum amid optimism about more business friendly policies under President Donald Trump.
Retail giants Wal-Mart (WMT) and Home Depot (HD) both moved notably higher after reporting their quarterly financial results.
Steel stocks showed a strong move to the upside on the day, driving the NYSE Arca Steel Index up by 2.2 percent. The jumped lifted the index to its highest closing level in over two years.
Considerable strength was also visible among semiconductor stocks, as reflected by the 1.4 percent gain posted by the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index.
Housing, utilities, and commercial real estate stocks also saw notable strength, moving higher along with most of the other major sectors.
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Adedapo Adesanya