NEW YORK (AP) -- U.S. stocks headed for a modestly higher open Wednesday as investors awaited several economic readings and minutes from the Federal Reserve's last meeting.

Investors wading into the first trading session of 2008 will be looking to economic data to help determine how long the concerns that weighed on stocks in the second half of 2007 might persist.

Wall Street remains uneasy over the state of the housing market and tightness in the credit markets brought on by fears of faltering mortgage debt. In addition, the health of the consumer will again be in focus as investor await the government's December employment report, due Friday.

But first, on Wednesday, the Institute for Supply Management is scheduled to release its manufacturing index and the Commerce Department is due to report on construction spending. Economists polled by Thomson/IFR anticipate that manufacturing expanded very modestly in December, and that construction spending dipped in November.

In the afternoon, investors are hoping to obtain some insights into the mood at the Fed. The minutes from the central bank's Dec. 11 meeting, when policy makers lowered key interest rates by a quarter point, could upset investors if they signal the Fed is struggling to balance concerns about inflation and slowing growth.

The arrival of the new year will be accompanied by a return of more of Wall Street's regular players. The recent weeks surrounding the holidays have seen light trading volume, making it hard to draw any meaningful reading on the market's mood. Moves higher or lower tend to be exaggerated amid light sessions.

In the final hour before the opening bell Wednesday, Dow Jones industrial average futures rose 2, or 0.02 percent, to 13,330. Standard & Poor's 500 index futures rose 0.10, or 0.01 percent, to 1,477.30, and the Nasdaq composite index rose 3.25, or 0.15 percent, to 2,108.00.

Bond prices fell. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, rose to 4.04 percent from 4.03 percent late Monday. The dollar was mixed against other major currencies, while gold prices fell.

Light, sweet crude rose $1.72 to $97.70 per barrel in premarket electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange following violence in the oil-producing nation of Nigeria and speculation that inventory figures will show drops in levels of U.S. supplies.

Overseas, markets in Japan were closed for a bank holiday. Britain's FTSE 100 fell 0.31 percent, Germany's DAX index rose 0.04 percent, and France's CAC-40 rose 0.62 percent.