US pre-open: Futures little changed ahead of data onslaught

Wall Street futures were little changed prior to the opening bell on Wednesday as investors braced for a slew of data points ahead of tomorrow's holiday.

As of 1225 GMT, Dow Jones futures were up 0.06%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures had the indices opening 0.12% and 0.18% firmer, respectively.

The Dow closed 397.82 points higher on Tuesday as market participants digested comments from a pair of central bankers and shrugged off fears of further lockdowns in China.

With Wall Street set to shut up shop for tomorrow's Thanksgiving break, traders will sift through two days worth of data points on Wednesday.

First up, mortgage applications rose 2.2% in the week ended 18 November, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association of America, marking the first time since August that applications increased for two consecutive weeks. The purchase index went up 2.8%, while applications to refinance a home loan increased by 1.8%.

Still to come, October building permits numbers will be published at 1330 GMT, while weekly jobless claims data and last month's durable goods orders report will follow at 1330 GMT, a flash reading of S&P Global's November purchasing managers' index will be on deck at 1445 GMT, and the University of Michigan's November consumer sentiment index and October new home sales data will be released at 1500 GMT.

However, most importantly, minutes from the Federal Reserve Open Markets Committee's most recent policy meeting will be published at 1900 GMT, with market participants likely to thumb over the report in order to glean any further insight into the central bank's mindset when it comes to future monetary policy.

In the corporate space, Deere & Co posted fourth-quarter earnings of $2.25 per share and revenue of $15.54bn on Wednesday, topping Wall Street expectations. For the year as a whole, the company reported profits of $7.13bn and revenues of $47.92bn.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com