U.S. stock futures pointed to a moderately lower open Wednesday, a day after U.S. markets set fresh highs.

There are no major economic releases from Statistics Canada today.

The Canadian dollar opened at US101.95¢, up 0.17 of a cent.

South of the border, the latest reading on U.S. wholesale inventories is due to be released.

In earnings news, Aluminum producer Alcoa Inc. said reported after Tuesday’s close that its third-quarter profit edged up more than 3%, helped by the sale of its stake in China’s largest aluminum maker. But the results fell short of Wall Street expectations.

In M&A news, the consortium led by Royal Bank of Scotland declared its US$101 billion offer for ABN Amro unconditional after shareholders tendered some 86% of the Dutch bank’s shares.

As well, oil company Chevron warned investors late Tuesday to expect third-quarter earnings “significantly below” the record US$5.4 billion generated in the previous quarter as refining margins deteriorate.

Light sweet crude fell 3¢ to US$80.23 per barrel in premarket electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Overseas, the UK’s FTSE 100 was down 0.36%, Germany’s DAX index rose 0.14% and France’s CAC-40 fell 0.34%.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng rose 341.29 points, or 1.21%, to 28,569.33. Japan’s Nikkei stock average rose 0.1%.

Toronto stocks moved ahead Tuesday, as strength in the materials and information technology sectors more than offset weakness in the energy group.

The S&P/TSX composite index gained 28.85 points, or 0.20%, to 14,262.19.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index moved up 14.63 points, or 0.51%, to 2,872.20.

In New York, the release of the minutes from the most recent U.S. Federal Reserve meeting showed that there had been unanimous agreement on the need for a rate cut.

The news seemed to raise the likelihood of the Fed lowering rates at its next meeting.

Both the Dow Jones industrial average and the S&P500 surged to record highs. The Dow gained 120.80 points, or 0.86%, to 14,164.53 while the S&P500 shot ahead 12.57 points, or 0.81%, to 1,565.15.

The Nasdaq composite index advanced 16.54 points, or 0.59%, to 2,803.91.