US pre-open: Futures in the green following Tuesday's sell-off

dl wall street st new york city nyc nyse stock exchange ny dow jones nasdaq sp finance us usa united states of america — Wall StreetSharecast photo / Josh White

Wall Street futures were in the green ahead of the bell on Wednesday following another day of heavy, Omicron-fuelled losses in the previous session.

As of 1215 GMT, Dow Jones futures were up 0.91%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures had the indices opening 1.26% and 1.45% higher, respectively.

The Dow closed 652.22 points lower on Tuesday as concerns regarding the new Covid-19 variant and news that the Federal Reserve was mulling a quicker-than-initially-expected exit from easy monetary policy.

In focus ahead of the bell, Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell shook markets yesterday after he said the central bank would discuss speeding up the taper of its minimum $120.0bn a month bond-buying programme despite the potential disruption presented by the Omicron variant, with the Fed head stating he believes cutting the pace of monthly bond-buying can now move quicker than the $15.0bn a month rate outlined earlier in the month.

Treasury yields moved higher on the news, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note hovering near 1.5% after falling to around 1.45% in the previous session.

Prior to the open, the Mortgage Bankers Association revealed applications to refinance a home slumped 15% in the week ended 26 November as the average rate on a 30-year mortgage with conforming loan balances increased to 3.31% from 3.24%, with points rising to 0.43 from 0.36 for loans with a 20% down payment. Mortgage applications to purchase a home rose 5% week-on-week but were 8% lower than at the same time a year ago.

Still to come, investors will digest a number of data points later in the day, with ADP employment change figures for November at 1315 GMT, IHS Markit's final manufacturing PMI for November at 1445 GMT and the Institute for Supply Management's November manufacturing PMI and October's construction spending report both at 1500 GMT.

Dow Jones - Risers

Apple Inc. (AAPL) $165.30 3.16%
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $74.91 0.03%
Honeywell International Inc. (HON) $230.94 0.00%
Dowdupont Inc. (DWDP) $30.52 0.00%
Boeing Co. (BA) $197.85 -0.33%
Nike Inc. (NKE) $169.24 -0.37%
International Business Machines Corporation (CDI) (IBM) $117.10 -1.18%
Visa Inc. (V) $193.77 -1.28%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $193.35 -1.31%
Walmart Inc. (WMT) $140.63 -1.40%