Stocks head to higher opening as investors regain some optimism; market awaits inflation data

Wall Street headed for a slightly higher open Wednesday on easing concerns about the global credit market turmoil, and ahead of government data that might give more hints about the economy.

Investors regained some optimism Tuesday after Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said it does not expect further writedowns from the credit crisis. That propelled the Dow Jones industrials up nearly 320 points.

Meanwhile, Bank of America Corp. said it will take a $3 billion (euro2.05 billion) debt-related writedown during the fourth quarter. Shares of the company rose on expectations this might be the brunt of BofA's credit-related troubles.

However, British bank HSBC Holdings on Wednesday said it would have to write off a further $3.4 billion (euro2.33 billion) from its U.S. business during the third quarter because of exposure to subprime loans. However, strong growth from Asia and the Middle East are offsetting those losses.

Economic data, which has been in short supply in recent sessions, was expected to be a focus of Wednesday's trading. The Labor Department issues its Producer Price Index, which measures the costs of goods before they reach stores shelves; it is forecast to have risen 0.3 percent in October, according to the consensus estimate of Wall Street economists surveyed by Thomson/IFR. The index is due out at 8:30 a.m. EST (1330 GMT).

Dow futures rose 11, or 0.06 percent, to 13,341.00, while Standard & Poor's 500 futures added 0.50, or 0.03 percent, to 1,453.70. Nasdaq 100 index futures rose 2.75, or 0.13 percent, to 2,069.50.

A barrel of light sweet crude rose 93 cents to $92.10 in premarket trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average closed up 2.47 percent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index rose 4.90 percent. In afternoon trading in Europe, Britain's FTSE 100 added 1.36 percent, Germany's DAX index fell 0.86 percent, while France's CAC-40 shed 1.48 percent.

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