NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - Stocks could get a lift in early trading Wednesday ahead of the closely watched weekly report on U.S. fuel inventories.

U.S. stock futures were up, indicating a higher opening for stocks, ahead of the 10:30 a.m. ET report on oil and fuel supplies. Oil prices again rose above the $60 a barrel market ahead of the inventory report.

The January light crude futures contract for NYMEX gained 49 cents to $60.43 a barrel in electronic trading, while the January contract for Brent crude was up 51 cents to $58.12.

"With the cold weather in the Northeast, traders are expecting draw downs," said Nick Stryganeck chief market strategist of LaSalle Futures in Chicago. But he said that stock traders seem to be looking past oil for the moment at hopes of strong fourth-quarter earnings.

"It's the fourth quarter rally, and see no evil, hear no evil," said Stryganeck.

In October, chipmaker Texas Instruments triggered a round of concern about a softer fourth quarter when it gave a disappointing fourth-quarter sales range to investors. The company is set to give a mid-quarter sales update after the market close Wednesday and Stryganeck said that some traders are betting on a much more bullish outlook this time around.

"If Texas Instruments comes out and says it's not as bad as we thought, that will lift the whole sector," he said. "They're certainly a bellwether."

Major markets in Asia closed higher Wednesday. Major European markets also were higher in early trading.

Treasury prices were lower, lifting the yield on the 10-year note to 4.50 percent from 4.48 percent late Tuesday. The dollar gained ground against the euro and the yen.

In corporate news, Time Warner (Research) is closing in on a deal with Microsoft (Research) for an online advertising alliance to compete with Google (Research) and Yahoo! (Research), according to a report in the Wall Street Journal. CNN/Money is a unit of Time Warner.

Microsoft had a setback Wednesday when South Korea's antitrust regulators the software provider abused its market dominance. While the fine was only $32 million, analysts told Reuters the decision could open the door to further antitrust headaches in different countries around the world for the company, which said it planned to appeal the decision.

Embattled automaker General Motors (Research) announced it would name Frederick "Fritz" Henderson, chairman of GM Europe, as its new chief financial officer. Shares of GM gained 2 percent in European trading early Tuesday.

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