Wall Street futures pointed to a higher open for stocks Wednesday ahead ahead of an afternoon policy statement from the U.S. Federal Reserve.

The U.S. central bank is expected to leave interest rates unchanged.

There are no major economic releases from Statistics Canada today. The Canadian dollar rose to US87.16¢, up from Tuesday’s finish at US86.96¢.

In other economic news, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development said it expects the U.S. economy to shrink by 2.8% this year after previously forecasting a 4% decline in March, and grow by 0.9% in 2010 after a previous forecast for flat growth. The OECD released its half-yearly economic outlook on Wednesday.

In earnings news, tech bellwether Oracle beat analyst estimates by posting a 7% slide in earnings in its just-ended quarter and issued better-than-expected guidance. Oracle released its earnings after markets closed Tuesday.

In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock average rose 40.71 points, or 0.4%, to 9,590.32 after falling nearly 3% Tuesday. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 353.78, or 2%, to 17,892.15.

In Europe, the UK’s FTSE 100 was flat, while Germany’s DAX rose 0.8% and France’s CAC 40 gained 0.5%.

The Toronto Stock Exchange bounced back into positive territory on Tuesday, finishing with modest gains after Monday’s steep 4.4% decline.

The S&P/TSX composite index gained 62.54 points, or 0.6%, to close at 9,896.72.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index finished the day lower on Tuesday, closing at 1,074.18, off 4.48 points, or 0.4%.

In New York, U.S. stock indices finished mainly flat on Tuesday after the release of disappointing U.S. housing data. The U.S. National Association of Realtors revealed that sales of previously occupied homes rose by 2.4% to a less-than-expected annual rate of 4.77 million in May, while prices were down 16.8% from May 2008.

The Dow Jones industrial average slipped 16.1 points, or 0.2%, to close at 8,322.91.

The S&P 500 index edged up 2.06 points, or 0.2%, to end at 895.10.

The Nasdaq composite index finished at 1,764.92, off 1.27 points, or 0.1%.

IE