-- U.S. stock futures stagnated Wednesday, with investors cautiously awaiting a speech by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell that could offer more clarity on the direction for interest rates.

By 06:20 ET (11:20 GMT), the contract was up 23 points, or 0.1%, traded just 1 point higher, while dropped 3 points.

Investors on sidelined ahead of Powell’s speech

The main indices on Wall Street have been on a strong run of late, with last week's surprisingly soft jobs data adding to expectations that U.S. interest rates had peaked.

The benchmark and tech-heavy notched their seventh and eighth straight day of gains on Tuesday, respectively, in the longest winning streak for both indices since 2021. The 30-stock also posted its seventh consecutive positive day.

However, Fed commentary this week has tended to warn against complacency in the fight against inflation, and this brings Fed chief into focus.

He is scheduled to provide the opening remarks before the Federal Reserve Division of Research and Statistics Centennial Conference later in the session, and investors will be looking for more clues on how long U.S. monetary policy could stay restrictive.

Walt earnings due 

The quarterly earnings season remains a key focus for investors, with around 80% of the S&P 500 companies that have reported having beaten earnings estimates this season, while only 59% have also topped revenue expectations, according to data from LSEG. 

Warner Bros Discovery (NASDAQ:) and Biogen (NASDAQ:) are among major Wall Street companies set to post quarterly results before the opening bell Wednesday.

Walt Disney (NYSE:) is also due to report its latest quarterly results, this time after the bell. Chief Executive Officer Bob Iger likely to face questions over his strategy to revitalize the structure of the entertainment giant, which has been hit by weakness at its traditional television offerings and lackluster growth at its streaming services.

Oil sinks on large U.S. inventories build

Oil prices retreated Wednesday falling near three-month lows, after a surprise surge in inventories raised concerns about slowing demand at the world’s largest consumer.

Data from the , an industry body, showed that U.S. crude inventories surged almost 12 million barrels last week, much more than expectations for a draw of 300,000 barrels.

The official weekly data from the U.S. has been delayed until the week of Nov. 13.

By 06:20 ET, the U.S. crude futures traded 0.8% lower at $76.79 a barrel, while the contract dropped 0.7% to $81.08 a barrel. Both declined to the lowest levels since July 24 on Tuesday.

Additionally, traded 0.2% lower at $1,970.05/oz, while traded 0.3% lower at 1.0671.

(Oliver Gray contributed to this item.)