U.S. Stocks Set to Open Lower Wednesday

Updated from 7:00 a.m. EDT

Premarket futures were intimating a lower open for U.S. stocks Wednesday, ahead of a Senate vote on the Bush administration's rescue package for the financial system.

Futures for the S&P 500 were down 12 points at 1158 and were 11 below fair value. Nasdaq futures were lower by 21 points at 1584 and were 10 short of fair value.

During Tuesday's session, stocks posted large gains, partially recovering from a sharp selloff Monday. Ahead of Wednesday's trading, investors were still waiting for news on a $700 billion financial-sector bailout proposal rejected by the House of Representatives on Monday.

The revised bill before the Senate included a temporary increase in government insurance on bank deposits to $250,000 from $100,000. The bill also extends existing tax breaks for individuals and businesses for two years.

According to reports by The Wall Street Journal and Reuters, former AIG (AIG Quote) CEO Maurice Greenberg requested the opportunity to bid on the insurance company's assets. AIG, which has taken out an emergency bridge loan from the government as it struggles to raise capital levels, was reportedly contemplating the sale of various assets to stave off a government takeover.

Elsewhere, Bloomberg reported that Swiss bank UBS (UBS Quote) may be cutting as many as 1,900 investment banking, equities and fixed-income jobs. UBS announced earlier this year that it would split its business after incurring large subprime-related writedowns.

Meanwhile, mining concern BHP Billiton (BHP Quote) gained approval from the Australian government to buy Rio Tinto (RTP Quote).

In analyst actions, Exxon Mobil (XOM Quote) caught a Barclays Capital upgrade to overweight from equal weight. Barclays said that the company's market value per barrel of oil has fallen despite an increase in oil prices.