US pre-open: Futures mixed as Q2 earnings season rolls on

Wall Street futures were pointing to a mixed session for stocks on Wednesday after major indices bounced back from an early week rout in the previous session.

As of 1235 BST, Dow Jones and S&P 500 futures were up 0.36% and 0.18%, respectively, while Nasdaq-100 futures had the index opening 0.20% lower.

The Dow closed 549.95 points higher on Tuesday, clawing back a hefty chunk of the losses registered by the blue-chip index a day earlier.

Energy stocks were in focus as oil prices looked set to continue to bounce back from having dropped below $70 a barrel earlier in the week, as was the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moved up around four basis points to 1.25% after having dropped to a new five-month low on Monday.

In the corporate space, Coca-Cola raised its full-year revenue guidance amid a rebound in demand thanks to the reopening US economy, while drugmaker Johnson & Johnson beat earnings estimates and said it now expects to see $2.5bn in global sales from its Covid-19 vaccine in 2021.

Elsewhere, Verizon reported a record second-quarter performance before the bell, with earnings per share of $1.40 and operating revenues of $33.8bn, and upwardly revised its full-year guidance, while Seagate was also scheduled to update on its most recent trading quarter prior to the open.

On the macro front, mortgage applications declined 4.0% week-on-week in the seven days ended 16 July, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association, reflecting a 2.8% drop in applications to refinance existing loans and a 6.4% decrease in purchase applications to their lowest level since May 2020.

The decline also came as the average contract interest rate for traditional 30-year mortgages increased to 3.11% from 3.09%.