US pre-open: Futures trade lower ahead of data

Wall Street futures were in the red before the opening bell on Wednesday as interest rate and energy price concerns remained in focus ahead of the publication of multiple data points.

As of 1230 BST, Dow Jones futures were 0.08% weaker, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures had the indices opening 0.14% and 0.13% softer, respectively.

The Dow closed 198.77 points lower on Tuesday, taking a bite out of gains recorded in the previous session.

Futures were pointing to modest losses prior to the open as traders continued to mull over the state of the global economy after the Reserve Bank of New Zealand hiked rates by 50 basis points overnight, stating inflation was still "too high and persistent".

Energy fears also continued to weigh on stocks after cartel OPEC+ said it will slash output by approximately 1.16m barrels of oil per day.

On the macro front, mortgage applications fell 4.1% in the week ended 31 March, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association of America, the first decline seen in over a month. Applications to refinance a home loan dropped 5% and applications to purchase a home loan were down 4%.

Still to come, ADP employment change figures for March and February trade balance data will be published at 1315 BST and 1330 BST, respectively, while a final reading of last month's S&P Global composite and services PMI will be released at 1445 BST, and last month's non-manufacturing PMI from the Institute of Supply Management will follow at 1500 BST.

In the corporate space, Johnson & Johnson shares rose in pre-market trading after agreeing to pay $8.9bn over the next 25 years in order to settle allegations that its talc-based products caused cancer.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com