Stocks are indicated modestly higher following a round of quiet trading throughout global financial markets Wednesday. Thirty minutes before the opening bell on Wall Street, stock index futures hint at a possible 15 or 20-point early gain for the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

The focus remains on Europe where hopes for a bailout of Greece helped lift global equity markets over the past two days. Germany’s DAX is pacing the advance with a 1 percent gain today. Benchmarks finished mostly higher across Asia as well. Japan’s Nikkei added .3 percent and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose .7 percent.

In the US, some of the early focus is on economic data. Stock index futures moved off their best levels after the Commerce Department reported that the US Trade Deficit rose to $40.2 billion in December, from $36.4 billion in November. Economists were looking for a smaller increase, to $36.8 billion.

Bonds are holding modest gains on the news and as players await Fed Chairman Bernanke testimony text due out at 10:00 a.m. eastern time. The benchmark ten-year Treasury note is up 3/32nd and now yields 3.63 percent.

The dollar edged down .16 to 89.47 against the yen. The euro lost .0044 to 1.3747 against the buck.

Trading in the commodities market is relatively quiet. Crude oil slipped a nickel to $73.70 ahead of weekly inventory data due out at 10:30. Gold lost $1.50 to $1075.70 an ounce.

Among the stocks to watch, Dow component Disney (DIS) is down 2.7 percent despite posting better than expected quarterly earnings and revenues. Sprint (S) fell 5.2 percent on news of a worse-than-expected 34-cent per share quarterly loss. International Continental Exchange (ICE) is also lower on earnings. However, Baidu (BIDU) and NetGear (NTGR) are seeing post earnings strength. DELL gained 3.3 percent after BofA/Merrill upgraded the stock to Buy.