BEFORE THE BELL:US Futures Down Before Orders Data, Beige Book

U.S. stock futures slipped on Wednesday ahead of the release of a Federal Reserve report on the state of the economy.

S&P 500 futures fell 3.4 points to 972.30 and Nasdaq 100 futures slipped 3.25 points to 1,598.20. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 31 points.

U.S. stocks finished mostly lower on Tuesday after a dip in consumer confidence, as the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 11 points and the S&P 500 fell 2 points, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 7 points.

Economic rebound hopes that have driven stock markets since second-quarter earnings season began will be tested as data on durable goods orders for June will be released at 8:30 a.m. Eastern and the Federal Reserve's Beige Book of anecdotal evidence on the economy will be released at 2 p.m.

"We expect a bit better tone than seen in the past couple of Beige Book reports indicating some progress toward economic recovery. Specifically, the summary should reference widespread indications of a slower pace of decline and some signs of tentative stability in economic conditions," said David Greenlaw, an economist at Morgan Stanley, in a note to clients.

New York Fed President William Dudley also is speaking on the factors driving growth and inflation, with his speech due to start at 8:30 a.m. EDT.

There's another heavy day of reports in the U.S. as well, with ConocoPhillips (COP), General Dynamics (GD) and Time Warner (TWX) among the companies due to release figures on second-quarter performance.

Health-care firms WellCare Health Plans (WCG) and McKesson (MCK) may rise on better-than-hoped 2009 outlooks, and Conseco (CNO) may climb after the insurer forecast a second-quarter profit.

A number of insurers will report results after the closing bell.

The big move in international stock markets came out of Shanghai, where the Shanghai Composite ended 5% lower in late afternoon selling.

Hong Kong stocks also dropped, while fortunes were brighter in Europe, where automakers and chemicals firms led a 0.9% advance for the Dow Jones Stoxx 600.

The dollar rose against both the yen and the euro, while oil futures slumped $1.54 to $65.69 a barrel ahead of weekly energy inventory data.

Yields on 10-year Treasury bonds fell 3 basis points to 3.66%. Yields move in the opposite direction to prices. link......