US pre-open: Futures in the red as oil prices rise

Wall Street futures were in the red ahead of the bell on Wednesday as both oil prices and bond yields advanced.

As of 1245 GMT, Dow Jones futures were down 0.40%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures had the indices opening 0.50% and 0.78% lower, respectively.

The Dow closed 254.47 points higher on Tuesday, reversing losses recorded in the previous session.

Oil prices were in focus prior to the open, with Brent crude and West Texas Intermediate futures both up 3.25% at $112.82 and $119.23 per barrel, respectively, while the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note eased off slightly from the previous session's high but remained elevated at approximately 2.37%.

Market participants also continued to digest the latest headlines on the Ukraine-Russia conflict, with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy calling for more pressure to be applied on Russia from other nations as the conflict looked set to be entering a stalemate.

On the macro front, mortgage applications sunk 8.1% in the week ended 18 March, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association, as mortgage rates surged to their highest level in three years. Applications to refinance a home loan declined 14.4%, while those to purchase slipped 1.5% as the average fixed 30-year mortgage rate increased by 23 basis points to 4.50% - the highest since early 2019.

Still to come, February's new home sales data will be published at 1400 GMT.

In the corporate space, cereal maker General Mills raised full-year sales and profit forecasts on Wednesday on the back of higher prices elevated demand for food at home, while Winnebago reported a 39% jump in second-quarter revenues.