9:45AM NY – 2:45PM Frankfurt – U.S. stock futures decline on rise in oil and less than expected gain in durable goods orders.

U.S. stock-index futures fell thirty minutes before the official trading on several negative trends in the market. Oil traded up $1.10 to $64.10 per barrel, after rising as much as $5 on rumors that Iran had fired a missile at a U.S. ship. Oil backed-off after trading above $68.

Durable goods orders in February rose 2.5%, less than expected. Spending by businesses on equipment and technology fell in 9.3% in January triggering a sharp sell-off of more than 400 points. Manufacturing sector appears to be still struggling and market was expecting a larger rebound in the orders.

Home builders may come face another day of sell-off. FBI said that it is investigating Beazer Homes (BZH: chart) for aggressive selling of mortgages to buyers who may not be able to afford it. U.S. Attorney’s office said that it will investigate the matter and has requested the documents from the company.

Accenture Ltd (ACN: chart) gained $1.05 in early trading on second quartet earnings report of 47 cents vs. 11 cents a year ago. Caterpillar and Boeing fell.


9:30AM, NY – London advances Wednesday morning on a rise in commodities.

The UK market was higher on Wednesday morning. The FTSE 100 gained 2.1 points to 6.294.8.

Advancers

In London, with crude trading more than $1 higher, BP gained 2%, BG Group advanced 1.6% and Royal Dutch Shell added 1.6%. Next led the UK index FTSE with a gain of 4.6% as the fashion retailer continued its recent strong performance on rumors of private equity interest.

J Sainsbury reported a 5.9% rise in fourth quarter same-store sales excluding fuel and said it was confident it can continue to build on its recovery. The UK third largest supermarket, up 0.2%, made no reference to any possible bids from private equity players.

United Utilities added 1.1% after its trading update said full-year results for the year to March 31 were expected to be in-line with management expectations. Aberdeen Asset Management also performed strongly with a rise of 4.6% after a positive trading update

Ahead of a trading update on Friday, FKI gained of 3%. The engineering group performed strongly for a second session on hopes that a significant disposal may be announced.

Decliners

Woolworths Group dipped 2.3% after the retailer reported that full-year pre-tax profits slumped to 16 million pounds last year compared with 61.5 million pounds in 2005. Same-store sales fell by 6% last year. The company issued a cautious outlook statement and said the retail environment was likely to remain challenging.

Stocks trading ex-dividend fell, including Scottish & Newcastle off 3.1%, Wolseley 2.6% lower and Standard Life down 1.1%.


9:00AM Asian markets finished sharply lower on U.S. growth concerns.

Asian markets ended distinctly lower on Wednesday. Tokyo Nikkei 225 Average gave back earlier gains, falling as much as 1%, ending 0.6% lower at 17,254.73. Toyota, largest automaker in Japan, fell 1.4 %. Sony Corp., the maker of consumer electronics which made 70% of its sales overseas last year, fell 2.1%.

Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., the world largest contract manufacturer, declined 2.3%. Shares of Sapporo Holdings were down 1.7% on reports that shareholders are likely to support measures Thursday that will make it difficult for an outside group to takeover the brewer.