By Sara Sjolin, MarketWatch

Nike climbs premarket after earnings

U.S. stock futures pointed to a third straight session of gains on Wednesday, with a raft of fresh economic data ahead that may provide some momentum as markets wind down the holiday-shortened week.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 39 points, or 0.2%, to 17,396, while those for the S&P 500 index gained 2.60 points, or 0.1%, to 2,038.50. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index added 10 points, or 0.2%, to 4,601.

The small gains come on the back of an upbeat session on Tuesday (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-stock-futures-drop-in-choppy-trade-ahead-of-gdp-data-2015-12-22), when investors largely brushed off weak economic data. Trading was choppy, however, with volumes light in the run-up to Christmas Day on Friday.

Read: When do markets close for Christmas? (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/when-do-markets-close-for-christmas-2015-12-14)

Economic data: There will be lots of economic readings for investors to assess on Wednesday. At 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time, personal income and consumer spending data for November come out, forecast to rise 0.2% and 0.3% respectively, according to economists polled by MarketWatch.

At the same time, a reading on core inflation in November is due, expected to tick higher to 0.1%. A report on durable-goods orders also comes at 8:30 a.m. Eastern, with orders forecast to have slipped 1.1% in November.

"Durable goods orders have been sluggish through much of the year, particularly when the extremely volatile aviation component is excluded, though this should hardly be a major surprise when one considers that close to 40% of orders in recent years have been related directly or indirectly to the energy and primary resource sector," said Marc Ostwald, strategist at ADM Investor Services, in a note.

At 10 a.m. Eastern, the consumer sentiment report for December is on tap. Forecasts are for an improvement to 92, up from 91.8 in the preliminary reading.

New home sales data for November are due at the same time. Existing home sales data out on Tuesday showed resales plunged 10.5% in November (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/19-month-low-for-home-resales-reflects-some-unusual-factors-2015-12-22) to the slowest pace in nearly two years.

Movers & shakers: Shares of Nike Inc. (NKE) rose 2.6% in premarket action after the sportswear retailer late Tuesday reported a rise in revenue and profit (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/nikes-profit-and-revenue-climb-2015-12-23).

Shares of Celgene Corp. (CELG) climbed 6.2% ahead of the bell after the biotech company late Tuesday said it reached a settlement in a long-running patent dispute over its flagship blood-cancer drug Revlimid.

Oil futures and energy stocks could move around 1 p.m. Eastern Time, when rig-count data from Baker Hughes hits.

Other markets:Oil continued to recover (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/crude-prices-strengthen-on-us-export-hopes-2015-12-23), with crude rising 0.9% to $36.45 a barrel. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries said in its closely watched annual World Oil Outlook (http://www.wsj.com/articles/opec-report-suggests-oil-price-rebound-supply-cut-1450864802) it expects the price of its basket of crudes to rise to $70 a barrel in 2020 and $95 a barrel in 2040.

Asia markets closed mostly higher, while European stocks also were strong in the early going.

Gold and silver declined, while the dollar inched higher (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/dollar-ekes-out-gain-in-holiday-thinned-trade-2015-12-23) against most other major currencies.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 23, 2015 06:08 ET (11:08 GMT)