US pre-open: Futures slightly higher ahead of PPI, retail sales
Wall Street futures were trading slightly higher prior to the open on Wednesday as traders look ahead to some key economic data.
As of 1210 GMT, Dow Jones futures were up 0.04%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures had the indices opening 0.16% and 0.18% firmer, respectively.
The Dow closed 391.76 points lower on Tuesday, easily erasing gains recorded before the long weekend as market participants digested more corporate earnings.
Market participants will be primarily focussed on the latest producer price index and retail sales data on Wednesday, with economists expecting to see PPI decline 0.1% in December, compared to a 0.3% rise the previous month, while retail sales look set to have dipped 1.0%, according to consensus, after a decline of 0.6% a month earlier.
Elsewhere on the macro front, mortgage applications surged 27.9% in the week ended 13 January as interest rates dropped to their lowest level since September, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association of America, the biggest jump since the first week of March 2020.
Still to come, December's producer price index and retail sales data will be published at 1330 GMT, while last month's industrial production numbers will be on deck at 1400 GMT, and November business inventories and the National Association of Housebuilder's January housing market index will follow at 1500 GMT.
Federal Reserve bankers Raphael Bostic, James Bullard, Patrick Harker, and Lorie Logan will all deliver speeches throughout the course of the day.
In the corporate space, Charles Schwab and Discover will both report earnings on Wednesday.
Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com