U.S. stock futures rise ahead of Goldman, data

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) � U.S. stock futures rose on Wednesday, with shares of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. inching higher after results but Bank of New York Mellon Corp. off more than 3%.

Stock-index futures retained their gains as the U.S. government reported U.S. wholesale prices unexpectedly dipped 0.1% in December.

�To the extent one may be monitoring inflation developments with regards to what the Fed may or may not do, slower rates of price increases play right into the Fed�s hand, providing more room for the more dovish members of the FOMC to support additional easing measures,� wrote Dan Greenhaus, chief global strategist at BTIG LLC, of the Federal Reserve and its policy-setting Federal Open Markets Committee.

�On that front, tomorrow�s CPI will be far more important in terms of determining such a course of action,� he added of the consumer price data.

Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average �rose 10 points to 12,430. Futures on the Standard & Poor�s 500 index �climbed 1.1 points to 1,290.4 and those on the Nasdaq Composite �were up 8.25 points to 2,398.

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Financials were in focus as a slew of companies reported before the bell.

Among the highlights, shares of Bank of New York Mellon BK �fell 4% after reporting a 26% drop in fourth-quarter net income on 5.6% lower revenue.

Shares of Goldman Sachs GS rose 1.3% in pre-open trade after reporting fourth-quarter profit fell to $1.01 billion, or $1.84 a share, versus $2.39 billion, or $3.79 a share, a year ago.

Goldman was expected to report a fourth-quarter profit of $1.28 a share on revenue of $6.73 billion, according to a FactSet Research poll of analysts.

State Street Corp. STT reported fourth-quarter net income more than quadrupled on 13% higher revenue.

EBay Inc.EBAY �will report after the market closes.

Shares of Majesco Entertainment Co. COOL �dropped 20% in pre-open trading as it reported a wider fourth-quarter loss. An impairment charge weighed on results. It also released a downbeat forecast for 2012.

Shares of Linear Technology Corp. LLTC �rose more than 7% in pre-open trade after the maker of integrated circuits released a strong revenue forecast late the prior day.

Shares of Cree Inc. CREE �fell 2.7% in pre-market trading after the maker of light-emitting diodes and electronic components forecast a weaker profit for the third quarter late Tuesday.

U.S. stocks finished higher on Tuesday, but trimmed gains as markets got nervous ahead of the Goldman results, and after mixed results from Citigroup Inc. C �and Wells Fargo & Co. WFC . The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA �pulled back from a 151-point gain to close up 60.01 points, or 0.5%, to 12,482.07.