U.S. equity futures rose in early Wednesday trading despite renewed fears over the fiscal cliff. Investors may have become hopeful of a deal in Washington when on Tuesday the White House announced that President Obama is set to speak Wednesday on the subject. The press conference is set for 1:30 p.m. ET.

In other news, Greece has another two years to reach its bailout targets, according to The Economist analysis . The country will need approximately another 32 billion euros. The magazine says that this itself could lead to Greece needing a third bailout.

Spanish banks had to borrow 367 billion euros from the European Central Bank in October. While the figure is less than the amount borrowed in September, some 400 billion euros, it is still very high.

The Bank of England's Inflation Report cut its growth forecast for the country from 2.0% to 1.9% in two years. Also, the Bank increased its inflation forecast for the same period to 1.8% from 1.7%.

• S&P 500 futures rose 6.7 points to 1,377.60.
• The EUR/USD was higher at 1.2747.
• Spanish 10-year government bond yields fell to 5.838%.
• Italian 10-year government bond yields fell to 4.954%.
• Gold futures fell 0.04% to $ 1,724.10 per ounce.

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Commodities

Commodities were mostly higher in overnight trade led by the energy complex as gold lagged. WTI crude futures rose 0.43% to $85.75 per barrel and Brent crude futures rose 0.5% to $108.80 per barrel. Copper futures rose 0.36% to $348.35 on hopes of a fiscal cliff deal, which would avoid a sharp contraction in the economy and maintain end demand. Gold was lower and silver futures rose 0.06% to $32.51 per ounce.

Currencies

Currency markets were showing a dollar bearish bias in overnight trade as the greenback fell against a host of other currencies save for the yen. The EUR/USD was higher at 1.2747 and the dollar rose against the yen to 79.93. Overall, the Dollar Index fell to 80.99, down 0.12% overnight on weakness against the euro, the Swiss franc, and the Swedish krone. In addition, the Aussie dollar rose against the greenback and the EUR/AUD cross bounced back above 1.22.

Premarket movers

• Home Depot (HD) shares rose 0.9% premarket following a 3.63% gain Tuesday on stronger than expected adjusted earnings.
• Cisco (CSCO) shares rose 7.89% premarket after the company reported earnings that beat estimates and CEO, and Chairman John Chambers looks set to stay with the company longer than expected.
• J.P. Morgan Chase (JPM) shares rose 0.55% as relaxed fears on the fiscal cliff and optimism on the buyback plan boosted shares.
• Microsoft (MSFT) shares rose 1.33% after falling more than 3% Tuesday following the departure of its head of software. (Microsoft owns and publishes Top Stocks, an MSN Money site.)
  

Earnings

• Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) is expected to report third quarter earnings per share of $0.59 vs. $0.57 a year ago.
• Interoil Corporation (IOC) is expected to report third quarter earnings per share of $0.12 vs. a loss of $0.41 a share a year ago.
• Hot Topic (HOTT) is expected to report third quarter earnings per share of $0.09 vs. $0.07 a year ago.
• Limited Brands (LTD) is expected to report third quarter earnings per share of $0.24 vs. $0.25 a year ago.
• Netapp (NTAP) is expected to report second quarter earnings per share of $0.48 vs. $0.63 a year ago.
• Williams Sonoma (WSM) is expected to report third quarter earnings per share of $0.45 vs. $0.41 a year ago.

Economics

On the economics calendar Wednesday, MBA mortgage applications, the producer price index, and retail sales are due out. Later, business inventories are expected to be released and the Treasury is set to issue four- and 52-week bills. At 2:00 p.m. ET, the FOMC minutes from the October meeting are due out.

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