Welcome to Wednesday.
Here are the six things you need to know before the opening bell rings in New York:
1. Earnings: A range of big-name U.S. companies are reporting earnings, starting with Staples (SPLS), Target (TGT), Hormel Foods (HRL), Lowe's (LOW) and Booz Allen Hamilton (BAH) before the opening bell.
American Eagle (AEO), Cisco Systems (CSCO), Salesforce.com (CRM), Urban Outfitters (URBN) and Victoria's Secret parent company L Brands (LB) will report after markets close.
Looking internationally, beer brewer SABMiller (SBMRY) and Chinese internet giant Tencent (TCEHY) are also releasing financial results. Shares in Burberry (BURBY) are slumping in London as investors express their disappointment with the fashion house's latest financial results.
2. Fed focus: Minutes from the latest Federal Open Market Committee meeting will be released at 2 p.m. ET.
The minutes will offer a peek inside the central bank's thinking, and investors will be looking for any hints about a potential June rate hike.
3. Stock market overview: There's a bit of a negative mood in the markets, with Europe in the red following a tough trading day in Asia.
U.S. stock futures are not making any major moves ahead of the open.
That follows a sizable drop on Tuesday. The Dow Jones industrial average sunk 1%, the S&P 500 declined 0.9% and the Nasdaq posted the biggest loss, at 1.3%.
4. Eyes on oil: Traders are closely monitoring oil price fluctuations on Wednesday.
Crude has staged a massive recovery since trading below $27 per barrel in mid-February. Oil futures are now trading around $48 per barrel after various supply disruptions in places like Canada and Nigeria encouraged traders to bid prices up.
The change in supply dynamics means traders will be especially keen to see a weekly crude inventory report that's being released at 10:30 a.m. ET. Recent data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration show oil inventories have been at historically high levels.
5. Ones to watch -- Mitsubishi, Facebook: Mitsubishi Motors announced Wednesday that president Tetsuo Aikawa will step down next month amid fallout from a huge scandal over cheating on fuel efficiency tests.
The founder and CEO of Facebook (FB), Mark Zuckerberg, is meeting with conservative media in California on Wednesday.
Glenn Beck, Dana Perino, S. E. Cupp and Zac Moffatt are among the key people who will be having a sit-down with Zuckerberg after accusations surfaced last week that Facebook suppressed conservative news stories in its "Trending" section.
6. Japan avoids a recession: Japan's economy expanded 1.7% in the first quarter of 2016, bouncing back from a 1.7% contraction in the previous quarter.
