US pre-open: Futures trade higher following second losing week in a row

Wall Street futures were in the green ahead of the open on Monday following back-to-back losing weeks for major indices.

As of 1210 GMT, Dow Jones futures were up 0.18%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures had the indices opening 0.25% and 0.37% firmer, respectively.

The Dow closed 281.76 points lower on Friday as market participants struggled to shake off recessionary concerns after the Federal Reserve announced a 50 basis point short-term interest rate hike.

AvaTrade's Naeem Aslam said: "US and European futures are trading lower as traders are concerned about Fed being overly aggressive with their monetary policy. The reality is that traders do want the Fed to take its foot off the gas paddle and ease its hawkish monetary policy stance. The fear is that if the Fed doesn't back off from its current monetary policy, it is bound to push the US economy into a deep recession.

"Last week the Fed increased the interest rate by 50 basis points and showed no signs of easing its hawkish monetary policy stance. Since then, the case for the Santa rally has weakened, and now traders know that it is very unlikely that anything else will change the sentiment as trading activity is likely to slow down as we move toward the end of the year."

On the macro front, the National Association of Home Builders' December housing market index will be published at 1500 GMT.

No major corporate earnings were slated for release on Monday.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com