US pre-open: Futures trade lower ahead of Fed speeches

Wall Street futures were in the red ahead of the bell on Thursday as market participants awaited comments from an array of Federal Reserve bankers.

As of 1215 GMT, Dow Jones futures were down 0.62%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures had the indices opening 0.65% and 0.59% weaker, respectively.

The Dow closed 39.09 points lower on Wednesday following sour earnings from retail giant Target.

Thursday's primary focus will likely be on a number of Fed speakers who will take the stage today, with Raphael Bostic, Michelle Bowman, Philip Jefferson, and Neel Kashkari all delivering speeches throughout the course of the day. Traders will look for any sort of insight into the central bank's thought process when it comes to future interest rate hikes.

On the macro front, weekly jobless claims data from the Labor Department will be published at 1330 GMT, as will the Philadelphia Fed's November manufacturing index and preliminary readings of October's building permits and housing starts reports.

In the corporate space, Macy's and Kohl's will report earnings before the bell, while Gap will publish its latest set of quarterly figures after the close of trading.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com