US pre-open: Futures mixed as traders eye CPI, fresh bank earnings

As of 1245 BST, Dow Jones and S&P 500 futures were up 0.27% and 0.13%, respectively, while Nasdaq-100 futures had the index opening 0.19% softer.

The Dow closed 180.45 points lower on Tuesday as third-quarter earnings began to roll in.

Earnings were still in focus early on Wednesday as Bank of America reported a weaker third quarter as a $1.2bn Treasury penalty dragged profits down 17% to $6.93bn, with earnings of 91 cents a share falling short of expectations and revenue rising 3.2% to $30.12bn, below forecasts after softer trading income, while BlackRock delivered a far stronger performance, pulling in $205bn of new client money as revenue jumped 19% year‑on‑year and assets under management hit a record $15.5trn, driven by $135bn of ETF inflows and $66bn into active strategies as the firm pushes deeper into higher‑fee private markets.

Morgan Stanley also delivered a solid third‑quarter beat before the open, posting earnings of $3.03 per share against the $2.91 expected and revenues of $20.34bn, ahead of the $19.95bn consensus. The bank benefited from the same strength in investment banking and equities trading that lifted results at Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan earlier in the week.

Outside of earnings, Wednesday's primary focus will likely be September's consumer price index, due out at 1330 BST, with economists expecting headline inflation to tick up to 3.6% year‑on‑year from 3.4% previously.

Elsewhere on the macro front, US mortgage applications fell by 2.7% in the week ended 9 October, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association of America. Last week's drop marked the sixth consecutive decline to the lowest level since January 2025 and comes alongside a sharp increase in mortgage rates, with the benchmark 30-year fixed rate hitting an almost three-year high of 7.5%. Applications to refinance a mortgage, which are more sensitive to short-term changes in interest rate, fell by 0.45% week-on-week, while applications to purchase a home dipped 0.40%.

Oil prices were higher ahead of the CPI print, with West Texas Intermediate edging up 1.76% to $95.80 a barrel and Brent crude futures were 0.66% higher at $106.39 a barrel, extending a run of strength driven by tight supply and geopolitical risk.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com