U.S. stock-index futures advanced on Wednesday, as investors awaited the minutes from the Federal Reserve's July policy meeting, expecting signals about the pace of future rate increases and the Fed's assessments of the U.S. inflation outlook

Global Stocks:

Nikkei 19,753.31 +216.21 +1.11%

Nikkei 19,729.28 -24.03 -0.12%

Hang Seng 27,409.07 +234.11 +0.86%

Shanghai 3,246.62 -4.64 -0.14%

S&P/ASX 5,785.10 +27.62 +0.48%

FTSE 7,426.66 +42.81 +0.58%

CAC 5,188.04 +47.79 +0.93%

DAX 12,274.89 +97.85 +0.80%

Crude $47.59 (+0.08%)

Crude $1,278.00 (-0.13%)