US pre-open: Stock futures higher ahead of Fed minutes

(Sharecast News) - Wall Street futures were in the green ahead of the bell on Wednesday as market participants looked ahead to minutes from the Federal Reserve's July policy meeting and a key speech from chairman Jerome Powell later in the week. As of 1300 BST, Dow Jones futures were up 0.16%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures had the indices opening 0.15% and 0.10% firmer, respectively.

The Dow closed 61.56 points lower on Tuesday, while both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite snapped their longest winning streaks in over eight months.

Wednesday's primary focus will be July's Fed meeting minutes at 1900 BST, with investors hoping to glean further insight into what the central bank may be thinking coming up to its September meeting, where it is broadly expected to lower its benchmark interest rate.

After that, attention will then shift to the Federal Reserve's economic symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, with chairman Jerome Powell expected to speak on the central bank's current opinion of the US economy.

Elsewhere on the macro front, US mortgage applications crashed 10.1% in the week ended 16 August, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association of America, reversing much of the prior week's 16.8% increase. Applications to refinance a mortgage were down 15% despite a five basis point drop in benchmark mortgage rates to a fresh 15-month low, while applications to purchase a home fell 5%.

In the corporate space, shares in retailer Target surged in pre-market trading posted a big quarterly earnings beat and upgraded its full-year outlook, while Macy's beat earnings estimates but traded lower ahead of the bell as it revealed sales had fallen throughout the quarter.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com