NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - The rising price of oil continues to dominate U.S. stock market activity, with a lower open indicated Wednesday as crude futures hit another record.

Early Wednesday, Nasdaq and S&P futures were modestly lower.

Oil prices continued their climb. U.S. crude futures reached a record $44.28 a barrel before pulling back; still, they were $44.15 a barrel in electronic trading, unchanged from Tuesday's levels. Brent oil futures gained 11 cents to $40.75 a barrel in London,

Rising oil prices and less-than-spectacular economic report sent stocks tumbling Tuesday. The Nasdaq composite index fell 1.7 percent, while the Dow Jones industrial average's loss was about a third as steep.

Asian-Pacific stocks were plagued by oil concerns, with Tokyo's Nikkei index sliding 1.2 percent Wednesday. European markets were broadly lower in morning activity. (Check the latest on world markets)

Among U.S. stocks trading in Europe, Microsoft (MSFT: Research, Estimates) was lower. The No. 1 software maker for personal computers agreed to pay New Mexico consumers as much as $31.5 million to settle a class action claiming the company overcharged for software.

Treasury prices rose in early trading, sending the 10-year note yield down to 4.41 percent from 4.42 percent late Tuesday. The dollar gained against the yen and euro. Gold was lower.

Economic reports Wednesday include the latest readings on factory orders and service businesses.

The government report on factory orders is expected to show a 0.5 percent rise for June, according to economists surveyed by Briefing.com, an improvement from the 0.3 percent decline posted in May.

The Institute for Supply Management's survey of non-goods producing businesses is forecast to 61.5 for July from 59.9 in June. The ISM manufacturing index posted a strong gain when it was released Monday.

In corporate news, insurer Prudential Financial (PRU: Research, Estimates) posted a better than expected gain in second quarter earnings. Shares of Prudential gained 15 cents a share to $45.91 in after-hours trading Tuesday following the report.

Cigna (CI: Research, Estimates), the nation's No. 2 health insurer, reported early Wednesday it earned $1.75 a share in the second quarter, excluding special items, up from $1.13 a share on that basis a year earlier and easily topping the $1.25 a share First Call forecast.

Other companies due to report earnings Wednesday include No. 1 drugstore chain CVS (CVS: Research, Estimates) and Dean Foods (DF: Research, Estimates), the nation's largest dairy.

The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that No. 1 retailer Wal-Mart Stores (WMT: Research, Estimates) is in talks on a multi-million dollar settlement of a federal probe into whether it knowingly hired contractors who used illegal immigrants to clean its stores.

Oil services firm Halliburton (HAL: Research, Estimates) agreed to pay $7.5 million to settle Securities and Exchange Commission charges related to its accounting practices in 1998, when Vice President Dick Cheney was the company's CEO.