US pre-open: Futures lower following ninth straight winning session

Wall Street futures were in the red ahead of the bell on Wednesday, threatening to put an end to major averages' positive run of late.

As of 1300 GMT, Dow Jones futures were down 0.21%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures had the indices opening 0.21% and 0.27% lower, respectively.

The Dow closed 251.90 points higher on Tuesday, giving the blue-chip index a nine-day winning streak.

Even with losses in pre-market trading, all three major averages were still on track for a winning December, and year as a whole, with stocks building on their recent rally and investors looking ahead to multiple rate cuts from the Federal Reserve in 2024.

In focus early on Wednesday, Red Sea concerns were still weighing on sentiment despite a US pledge to assemble a cross-country naval force in the region. Brent crude was 1.21% higher at $80.19 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate was changing hands 1.33% higher at $74.92 a barrel.

On the macro front, mortgage applications fell 1.5% in the week ended 15 December, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association of America, dropping from a 7.4% surge a week earlier and halting a six-week run of increased applications. Applications to refinance a home dropped by 2% but remained 18% higher year-on-year, while applications to purchase a home were 1% lower week-on-week but also remained 18% higher on an annualised basis.

Still to come, November's existing home sales data will be published at 1330 GMT, while December's consumer confidence figures were slated for release at 1500 GMT.

In the corporate space, recreational vehicle maker Winnebago beat on revenues with its latest quarterly figures but fell short of profit expectations, while logistics giant FedEx slumped in pre-market trading after issuing some disappointing revenue guidance for the fiscal year.

General Mills and Micron Technology will both post earnings throughout the course of the day.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com