US pre-open: Futures mixed as stimulus talks, trade tensions remain in focus

Wall Street futures had stocks mostly opening higher ahead of the bell on Wednesday as stalled stimulus talks in Washington and US-Sino tensions remained in focus.

As of 1245 BST, Dow Jones futures were up 0.12%, while S&P 500 was 0.09% weaker and Nasdaq-100 futures were 0.07% lower.

The Dow closed 66.84 points lower on Tuesday, while the S&P 500 erased all of its Covid-19-fuelled loss as it hit its highest level in history.

The ongoing stalemate between Republican and Democratic lawmakers regarding another round of coronavirus stimulus payments to Americans was still in focus on Wednesday after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin slammed Democratic leaders for being unwilling to discuss a smaller relief package.

However, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told Politico she was willing to cut some of her party's demands in order to get an agreement on the bill.

Delayed trade talks between the US and China amid heightened tensions between the two economic superpowers were also somewhat playing on investors minds.

SpreadEx's Connor Campbell said: "When the weekend's videoconference trade talks were delayed, reports suggests the reasons behind the postponement were a) scheduling conflicts, and b) Beijing needed more time to buy up American exports as per the 'phase one' agreement.

However, Donald Trump claimed on Tuesday night that he was behind the delay, stating 'With what they did to this country and to the world, I don’t want to talk to China right now.' Whether or not this was the actual reason behind the postponement, it's another inflammatory comment from the President, further stoking the fires of conflict given it comes only a day or two after the most recent Huawei restrictions announcement."

In the corporate space, Target shares were higher in pre-market trading after reporting that profits and sales had soared last quarter, while Lowe's shares were also higher before the open after posting a 30% jump in second-quarter revenues.

Chipmaker Nvidia will report its latest quarterly results after the close.

On the macro front, total mortgage application volume fell 3.3% week-on-week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association, as the average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with loan balances of $510,400 or less increased rather abruptly to 3.13% from 3.06%.

Still to come, minutes from the Federal Open Markets Committee's latest meeting will be released at 1900 BST.