US pre-open: Futures have stocks bouncing back ahead of the bell
US futures had stocks opening higher on Wednesday, with indices trying to claw back some of the losses recorded in the previous session.
As of 1240 BST, Dow futures were up 1.07%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures had the indices opening 1.04% and 1.01% firmer, respectively.
The Dow Jones closed 390.51 points lower on Tuesday after a report raised concerns about the trial results for Moderna's potential Covid-19 vaccine
As far as Wednesday was concerned, strong results from home improvement retailer Lowe's despite ongoing coronavirus lockdowns helped buoy sentiment ahead of the bell after the group's first-quarter same-store sales increased 11.2% year-on-year.
Department store giant Target also pointed to a 10.8% increase in same-store sales on the back of some improved digital sales.
Also in focus were comments from Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell and treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin in front to the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday.
Mnuchin said the Treasury and the Federal Reserve were both "fully prepared to take losses" on the remaining capital from the Covid-19 bailout programmes.
He added that he was prepared to distribute the entire $500bn allocated to help struggling businesses impacted by the pandemic, while Powell reiterated the Fed's commitment to efforts aimed at keeping markets functioning and getting cash to Americans that needed it most during the crisis.
On the macro front, mortgage applications to purchase a home rose 6% week-on-week in the US, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association's seasonally adjusted index.
Purchase volume was just 1.5% lower than twelve months earlier, a sharp recovery from just six weeks ago when purchase volume was down 35% year-on-year.
Still to come, minutes from the Fed's latest Federal Open Markets Committee meeting will be published at 1900 BST.