Stocks are set to open higher following a round of mixed economic news Wednesday. Thirty minutes before the opening bell on Wall Street, stock index futures hint at a possible 40 or 50 point early gain for the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

Economic data is in focus. A report on personal incomes and spending showed incomes increasing by .2 percent and spending by .7 percent in October, which was better than the .1 percent and .5 percent economists had expected.

Separate data showed weekly jobless claims falling by 34,000 to 466,000 in the period ended November 21. Economists were looking for a smaller 1,000 decline.

However, the latest durable goods report showed an unexpected drop in October. Total orders fell .6 percent and, excluding transports, fell 1.3 percent. Economists were looking for increases of .5 percent and .6 percent ex-transports.

The University of Michigan releases its index of consumer confidence at 9:55 and New Home sales numbers are due out at 10:00.

Bonds are holding modest losses on the mixed data and ahead of a record auction of $32 billion in 7 years. The benchmark ten-year is down 4/32nd and yields 3.33 percent.

The dollar tumbled 1.03 to 87.50 against the yen. The euro rallied another .0109 to 1.5067 against the buck.

Energy, metals and mining stocks might see relative strength after crude oil added 28 cents to $76.30 ahead of weekly inventory data. Gold surged another $15.6 to $1183 an ounce.

Among the other stocks to watch, Deere (DE) is down 1.3 percent, even after reporting a 23-cent per share profit for the quarter, which beat Street estimates by 20 cents. Rambus (RMBS) is off 2.4 percent after a patent office rejected all 17 claims against NVidia. Tiffany (TIF) and J Crew (JCG) are up on better-than-expected earnings news.