Wall Street set to open slightly higher

By Sruthi Shankar

REUTERS - Wall Street's main indexes were set to open slightly higher on Wednesday, with a jump in prices of commodities such as copper and oil hinting at a strong global economic growth in 2018.

Prices of copper, a metal widely used in power and construction, hit three-and-a-half-year highs after a rise in China's imports in November.

U.S. crude was trading slightly below $60 per barrel, a level it had last crossed in late-2015, after news of an explosion on a Libyan crude pipeline and voluntary OPEC-led supply cuts.

"People are using copper and oil prices as a precursor to signal that the U.S. economy is strengthening," said Robert Pavlik, chief investment strategist at SlateStone Wealth in New York.

Trading volumes are expected to remain muted in the holiday-shortened week between Christmas and New Year.

Reports on a consumer confidence index for December and pending home sales for November are expected at 10:00 a.m. ET (1500 GMT).

At 8:32 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 2 points, or 0.01 percent, with 19,219 contracts changing hands.

S&P 500 e-minis were up 2.5 points, or 0.09 percent, with 75,923 contracts traded.

Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 7.5 points, or 0.12 percent, on volume of 17,721 contracts.

Wall Street's main gauges fell on Tuesday as Apple and shares of its parts suppliers weakened on a report of soft iPhone X demand, pulling down the best-performing technology sector.

Apple shares were up marginally in premarket trading.

Tesla shares fell 0.4 percent after brokerage KeyBanc lowered it estimates for Model 3 deliveries to roughly 5,000 units from 15,000 units for the fourth quarter.

Shares of wireless-charging technology developer Energous Corp more than doubled after it got certification for its wireless charging transmitter.

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