US pre-open: Futures trade higher ahead of consumer confidence figures

Wall Street futures were in the green ahead of the bell on Wednesday as traders refuse to give up hope of a possible "Santa rally".

As of 1235 GMT, Dow Jones futures were up 0.67%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures had the indices opening 0.42% and 0.19% firmer, respectively.

The Dow closed 28.20 points higher on Tuesday, taking a bite out of losses registered in the previous session.

Wednesday's primary focus will likely be the Conference Board's December consumer confidence index at 1500 GMT, with economists expecting to see the index tick up from 100.2 in November to 101.

AvaTrade's Naeem Aslam said: "US and European futures are trading higher today as bargain hunters have finally decided to step in to bag some bargains. The fact of the matter is that 2022 has been a great year for the US stock market as we saw inflation climbing to its 40-year high and the Fed increasing the interest rate at its most hawkish pace. However, despite all of this, we have seen the economic data performing much better than expectations.

"This is certainly a factor that cannot be ignored, and it has told us one thing and one thing only, which is that the US economy is standing on solid footing. Yes, the concerns are there that going in 2023, we are likely to see a recession taking place in the US, which the Fed denies for the time being. But given the robustness of the economy and the resilience in the economic numbers, it is unlikely to anticipate a scenario under which we will see a massive and prolonged period of crisis in the US."

Elsewhere on the macro front, US mortgage applications rose 0.9% in the week ended 16 December, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association, cooling off from the previous week's 3.2% jump. Applications to refinance a home loan surged 6% as consumers took advantage of a fall in mortgage rates, while applications to purchase a home edged 0.1% lower.

Still to come, existing home sales data forr November will be published at 1500 GMT.

In the corporate space, RiteAid and Micron Technologies will both report earnings on Wednesday.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com