U.S. stock futures pointed to a flat open Wednesday as oil prices rebounded ahead of weekly inventories data.

Crude-oil prices found renewed strength Wednesday after oil-exporter Iran said it test-fired a long-range missile. Oil futures were recently trading up US$2.08 at US$138.12 a barrel in electronic trading, after falling US$5 a barrel on Tuesday. A report on U.S. weekly energy-inventories is due at 10:30 ET

Here at home, there are no major economic releases from Statistics Canada today.

The Canadian dollar opened at US98.42¢, up 0.29 cent.

In earnings news, Alcoa, which traditionally opens the U.S. quarterly earnings season, reported better-than-expected results after the close Tuesday.

Corus Entertainment Inc. reported net income of $37.7 million in the March-May quarter, up 27% from a year ago.

In other business news, MDS Inc. is suing Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. and the federal government, seeking $1.6 billion over the cancellation of the MAPLE reactor project.

Overseas markets were generally stronger. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index gained 2.8%.

The Japanese Nikkei 225 index gained 19.03 points to close at 13,052.13 after losing more than 2.4% a day earlier.

In Europe, the FTSE 100 index was up 1.2% near midday in London. The German DAX index advanced 1.2% and the Paris CAC-40 rose 1.4%.

Toronto Stock Exchange’s benchmark index ended higher Tuesday even as crude-oil futures tumbled more than US$5 a barrel.

The S&P/TSX composite index gained 96.97 points, or 0.71%, to finish at 13,809.77 after a turbulent session.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index fell 78.67 points, or 3.17%, to end at 2,399.70.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average soared 152.25 points, or 1.36%, to 11,384.21. The S&P 500 climbed 21.38 points, or 1.71%, to 1,273.69. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index gained 51.10 points, or 2.28%, to 2,294.42.