US pre-open: Stocks to fall ahead of retail sales, FOMC minutes

US stocks looked set to fall at the open on Wednesday as investors eyed the latest minutes from the US Federal Reserve and retail sales data for July.

At 1030 BST, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were 0.2% lower, S&P 500 futures were down 0.4% and Nasdaq futures were 0.5% weaker.

On the macroeconomic front, US retail sales are due at 1330 BST. Market participants will also eye FOMC minutes, due at 1900 BST.

Oanda market analyst Craig Erlam said: "There's plenty more to look forward to today but the FOMC minutes naturally stand out. What's interesting about them is that despite the supposed "dovish pivot" from the Fed, the commentary since has been anything but. Rather than talking up the prospect of falling inflation allowing for slower tightening, the message remains hawkish. What's more, policymakers are continually pushing back against the policy U-turn next year that markets have been flirting with the idea of.

"I expect any hawkish components of the minutes will be overlooked today and instead traders will dissect them for any additional dovish concessions that could further fuel the stock market recovery. That's very much what we've seen in recent weeks and the decline in CPI last week only encouraged it."

On the corporate front, updates were due from Target, Cisco Systems and Lowe’s Corp.