Wall Street set to open higher as Trump's tax plan awaited

By Sruthi Shankar

(Reuters) - U.S. stocks were set for a higher open on Wednesday as investors awaited President Donald Trump to outline his new tax plan later in the day.

Trump will call for slashing tax rates on businesses and the wealthy as part of the new plan, which, if passed, would be his first significant legislative win since taking office in January.

"The market really would like to see something positive done. And, right now, tax reform is the only positive thing out there," said Brad McMillan, chief investment officer for Commonwealth Financial in Waltham, Massachusetts.

"If they manage to get through to a revenue neutral plan, that is going to be received positively, it will make it that much easier to pass."

U.S. stocks have rallied since Trump's presidential victory last year mainly on hopes of lower taxes, higher infrastructure spending and looser regulation.

The dollar rose to a one-month high against a basket of currencies on rising expectations of a third interest rate hike this year following comments from Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen.

Yellen said on Tuesday that it would be "imprudent" to keep rates on hold until U.S. inflation hit the 2 percent target.

Traders now see an 81.4 percent chance of a December rate hike, compared with 71.4 percent a week ago, according to CME Group's FedWatch tool.

Shares of major banks including Bank of America, JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs were up more than 1 percent in premarket trading.

Commerce Department data showed new orders for key U.S.-made capital goods increased more than expected in August and shipments maintained their upward trend, pointing to underlying strength in the economy despite an anticipated drag to growth from Hurricanes Harvey and Irma.

Non-defense capital goods orders excluding aircraft, a closely watched proxy for business spending plans, rose 0.9 percent last month. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast orders increasing 0.3 percent.

At 8:34 a.m. ET (1234 GMT), Dow e-minis were up 27 points, or 0.12 percent, with 17,830 contracts changing hands.

S&P 500 e-minis were up 4.5 points, or 0.18 percent, with 149,281 contracts traded.

Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 14.5 points, or 0.25 percent, on volume of 29,954 contracts.

Nike slipped 2.69 percent after the company posted its slowest quarterly sales growth in nearly seven years and said it expected a further drop in revenue from North America.

Micron Technology jumped 5.68 percent after the company reported a better-than-expected profit and forecast results above estimates.

Fed Board Governor Lael Brainard and St. Louis Fed Chief James Bullard are expected to make appearances later in the day.

(Reporting by Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva)