-- U.S. stock futures traded higher Wednesday, boosted by strong results from streaming giant Netflix as the quarterly earnings season kicks into top gear.

By 06:40 ET (11:40 GMT), the contract was up 95 points, or 0.3%, traded 20 points, or 0.5%, higher and climbed 120 points, or 0.7%.

The main U.S. averages closed in a mixed fashion Tuesday. The blue-chip slipped 0.3%, but the S&P 500 gained 0.3% to close at a record high for the third consecutive session and the rose 0.4%.

Netflix stars with subscribers boost

Sentiment has received a boost from strong numbers from Netflix (NASDAQ:) after the close Tuesday, as the streaming giant added far more paying subscribers in the fourth quarter than Wall Street had expected.

The company signed up a hefty 13.12 million users during the three months ended on Dec. 31, a 71% surge compared to the year-ago period and markedly above analyst estimates of about 8.9 million. Revenue grew by around 12% year-on-year to $8.83 billion, also beating projections.

In a letter to shareholders, Netflix backed the health of its business, forecasting "healthy double-digit" annual top-line growth.

Tesla to report after the close

The quarterly earnings season continues Wednesday, with numbers from the likes of telecom giant AT&T (NYSE:) and miner Freeport-McMoran (NYSE:) due before the bell, while (NYSE:) and (NYSE:) will issue results after the close.

The big name due to report Wednesday is Tesla (NASDAQ:), with the electric vehicle manufacturer expected to forecast a 21% jump in deliveries this year. The guidance would be well below the long-term annual target of 50% put forward by CEO Elon Musk around three years ago, underscoring the intensifying competition Tesla faces in the EV market.

U.S. PMI data due

There is some important economic data due later this week that could influence this thinking–fourth quarter on Wednesday and December's data on Thursday.

Ahead of this U.S. and data for January are due later in the session, following the equivalent data showing eurozone activity contracted again in January.

Crude stable on mixed signals

Oil prices steadied Wednesday, as traders digested mixed signals on global supply and demand while escalating geopolitical tensions provided support.

By 06:45 ET, the futures traded 0.2% lower at $74.22 a barrel, while the contract dropped 0.2% to $79.36 a barrel.

Data from the , released late Tuesday, showed that U.S. crude inventories shrank by 6.7 million barrels in the week to January 19, as severe cold weather across swathes of the country disrupted production.

But the API data also showed a sustained increase in gasoline inventories and a small draw in distillate stockpiles, indicating that demand in the world’s largest fuel consumer remained weak as cold weather disrupted travel in the country.

The official inventory data, from the , is due later in the session.

Additionally, rose 0.4% to $2,034.10/oz, while traded 0.4% higher at 1.0898.

(Oliver Gray contributed to this article.)

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