Crude oil continued to drop Wednesday ahead of weekly energy inventories data, losing $2.40 to $126 a barrel. The drop drove the stock market futures higher, as Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were 64 points higher at 11628. The S&P 500 futures gained 7.2 to 1281.4, and Nasdaq 100 futures rose 11 points to 1835. Yesterday, the Dow ended up about 135 points higher, as bank earnings were not as bad as predicted, and oil slid further. Financial stocks are up 31 percent in the past five trading days. The five big lenders that reported weak quarterly results Tuesday have climbed by an average of 60 percent over that period.
