US pre-open: Futures mixed ahead of Biden's infrastructure bill unveiling
Wall Street futures were mixed ahead of the bell on Wednesday as investors awaited an update from Joe Biden regarding his infrastructure spending plan.
As of 1240 BST, Dow Jones futures were down 0.10%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures had the indices opening 0.07% and 0.55% firmer, respectively.
The Dow closed 104.41 points lower on Tuesday, erasing gains recorded in the prior session.
Market participants will be holding out for the unveiling of Biden's more than $2.0trn package in infrastructure spending, a plan which could potentially see the president raise the corporate tax rate to 28% in order to fund it within 15 years.
Still elevated bond yields weighed on sentiment again ahead of the bell, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note hitting a fresh 14-month high of 1.77% amid the continued success of the Covid-19 vaccine rollout and expectations of a broad economic recovery.
Markets.com's Neil Wilson said: "Bonds have come back into focus as the benchmark US 10-year yield rose to 1.77%, rising six basis points to its highest since January, with the 2s10s spread up above 161bps, the widest since 2015. Rising bond yields and yesterday's pop dragging the Nasdaq 100 down by 0.5%. The Dow slipped 100 points from its record high, while the S&P 500 was off by 0.3%.
"Hit by rising bond yields, the Nasdaq Composite has risen by just 1%, while the Nasdaq 100 of the largest tech/growth names is flat on the year. This is a sign of the kind of moves we have seen in bond yields in the context of an expected post-pandemic reopening and the reflationary backdrop as stimulus feeds through."
On the macro front, higher mortgage rates led to a 2.2% drop in mortgage application volume last week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.
Still to come, ADP employment change numbers for March will be published at 1315 BST, this month's Chicago PMI will be posted at 1445 BST and last month's pending home sales data will follow at 1500 BST.