US pre-open: Futures point to modest gains despite Trump labelling Covid-19 relief bill a 'disgrace'

Wall Street futures were pointing to modest gains ahead of the bell on Wednesday despite Donald Trump expressing concerns about a new Covid-19 relief package.

As of 1220 GMT, Dow Jones futures were up 0.15%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures had the indices opening 0.16% and 0.01% firmer, respectively.

The Dow closed 200.94 points lower on Tuesday despite Congress finally passing a long-delayed Covid-19 stimulus package.

However, futures were slightly in the green prior to the open despite Trump's labelling of the bill as a "disgrace" being seen as a likely further hurdle the deployment of funds to struggling Americans.

The President implored lawmakers to alter the contents of the bill, most notably the amount allocated for direct payments to Americans but did not threaten to veto the legislation and rather insisted that if he was not sent a "suitable bill" the next administration "will have to deliver a Covid relief package".

CMC Markets' David Madden said: "The US stimulus package is in focus too as President Trump has indicated that he will not sign the current deal.

"It is understood that Mr Trump would like to see stimulus payments of $2,000, rather than the existing $600 proposed payments. Even though the Trump news is a bump in the road, there is some hope that a deal will eventually be put into place."

Turning to the pandemic itself, the US has reported an average of 215,400 new daily Covid-19 cases over the last week and at least 2,600 deaths each day, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

On the macro front, mortgage applications to purchase a home fell 5% for last week but were still 26% higher than the same week a year earlier, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association, while low rates continued to drive refinancing volume, which rose 4% week-on-week and was a solid 124% higher year-on-year.

Still to come, last month's durable goods orders numbers, weekly jobless claims data and November's core PCE price index will all be released at 1330 GMT, while October's house price index will follow at 1400 GMT and the University of Michigan's final consumer sentiment index for December will be published at 1500 GMT.

No major corporate earnings were slated for release on Wednesday.