US pre-open: Stocks seen touch higher as focus turns to Trump's tax plans

US futures pointed to a marginally firmer open on Wall Street on Wednesday as investors awaited a speech on tax reform by President Donald Trump.

At 1120 BST, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were up 0.2%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq futures were 0.1% higher.

Meanwhile, oil prices nudged lower ahead of supply data from the Energy Information Administration at 1530 BST. West Texas Intermediate was down 0.2% to $49.45 a barrel and Brent crude was off 0.3% to $51.97.

Trump tweeted on Saturday that his administration was set to make a big announcement on tax mid-week, after telling the Associated Press a day earlier that his proposal would contain a "massive tax cut" for businesses and individuals.

Deutsche Bank analyst Jim Reid said: "Today is all about Mr Trump's tax plans of which the eventual success (or lack of it) will likely define the economic landscape of his administration. The WSJ last night reaffirmed that Mr Trump wants to slash corporate tax including on pass through businesses. He is also planning a tax break for child care expenses.

"There was also talk of a territorial tax for companies where they would pay little or no tax on future foreign earnings. Bloomberg also report that a repatriation tax of 10% is planned on the estimated $2.6tn of stockpiled offshore earnings. Anyway whatever we hear today it will still have to go through legislative approval and there will be a lot of talk about how tough that will be if it's not revenue neutral."

Reid also pointed to signs that a US government shutdown may be averted as Trump signalled that he was easing up on his demands for the immediate funding of the border wall.

"So far the spending plan needed to keep agencies running till September has been kept quiet ahead of this Friday’s deadline, but Trump’s willingness to push back funding the wall to later this year could be a sign that he would be ready to sign the spending bill," Reid said.

In corporate news, health insurer Anthem was likely to be in focus after it said first-quarter profit rose 44%, while PepsiCo shares could be active after it reported a 42% increase in first-quarter profit.

Procter and Gamble, Twitter, Boeing, Hershey and United Technologies were also due to report earnings ahead of the opening bell.