Market Morning: Tempered Trading

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- U.S. stock futures suggest Wall Street will open mixed Wednesday, European shares were lower and Asian stocks ended mostly higher.

Japan's Nikkei 225 posted a 1.2% increase to 8,560.11. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong fell 0.8%, and South Korea's Kospi slipped 0.5%.

U.S. stocks started 2012 with strong gains. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed higher Tuesday by 179 points, or 1.5%, at 12,397, on encouraging U.S. manufacturing and construction spending data.

The S&P 500 gained 19 points, or 1.6%, to 1,277. The Nasdaq increased 44 points, or 1.7%, to 2,649.

Oil prices on Wednesday were trading below $103 per barrel.

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The economic calendar in the U.S. on Wednesday includes the Mortgage Bankers Association's weekly index of application activity at 7 a.m. EST, the weekly Redbook chain-store sales at 9 a.m., and factory orders for November at 10 a.m.

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Mitt Romney edged Rick Santorum by eight votes Tuesday night in the closest battle in an Iowa caucus race since 1972. The state's Republican Party said both presidential hopefuls garnered 25% of the vote.

Romney had 30,015 votes, while Santorum received 30,007.

Ron Paul trailed Santorum and Romney at 21%. A victory in the Hawkeye State for Romney, the front-runner for the national Republican Party's nomination, would be a major boost to the former Massachusetts governor's chances of winning the party's presidential nomination. Romney is already the leader in major New Hampshire primary polls.

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Yahoo!(YHOO) is poised to name a CEO, an announcement that could come as early as Wednesday morning, according to AllThingsD, which cited sources close to the situation,

The leading candidate, sources said, is PayPal President Scott Thompson, who runs eBay's online payments unit. Thompson hasn't been named in previous reports.

Yahoo! fired CEO Carol Bartz in September and the Internet company has been run by the board and interim CEO Tim Morse, who had previously been the company's chief financial officer.

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Automakers General Motors (GM) and Ford(F) are scheduled to post car sales figures for December on Wednesday.

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-- Written by Joseph Woelfel

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