By Sam Meredith, CNBC–
U.S. stock index futures were mixed Wednesday morning, with market participants monitoring the latest round of trade talks between the world’s two largest economies.
At around 3:00 a.m. ET, Dow Jones Industrial Averagefutures were 19 points lower, indicating a negative open of more than 21 points. Futures on the S&P 500and Nasdaq Composite were both seen little changed from the previous session.
Market focus is largely attuned to global trade developments, after officials from the U.S. and China launched a new round of negotiations on Tuesday.
A follow-up session of higher-level talks is expected later in the week, as both sides look to resolve the long-running trade war before an early March deadline.
President Donald Trump has suggested he might extend the deadline for a deal, telling reporters in the Oval Office on Tuesday that March 1 was not a “magical date.”
An extension to the current deadline would prevent an immediate increase in tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports to 25 percent from 10 percent.
In corporate news, investors are likely to closely monitor a flurry of earnings reports. CVS Health, Bausch Health and Garmin were among the major companies expected to publish their quarterly results before the opening bell.
Agilent, Cheesecake Factory and Sturm Ruger are all set to publish their latest figures after market close.
There are no major economic reports scheduled on Wednesday. However, the Federal Reserve is expected to publish minutes from its January policy-setting meeting.
Last month, the U.S. central bank effectively signaled no further rate hikes and hinted at possible tweaks to its balance sheet normalization.
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