US pre-open: Futures mixed ahead of PPI reading, more bank earnings

(Sharecast News) - Wall Street futures were mixed ahead of the bell on Wednesday as traders looked ahead to more bank earnings and another key inflation report. As of 1220 BST, Dow Jones futures were up 0.02%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures had the indices opening 0.09% and 0.25% softer, respectively.

The Dow closed 436.36 points lower on Tuesday as market participants thumbed over mixed Q2 bank earnings and June's consumer price index.

Wednesday's primary focus will likely be June's producer price index, which will be published at 1330 BST, with market participants expecting to see PPI rise 0.2% on a month-on-month clip.

Last month's PPI reading follows Tuesday's consumer price index, which revealed that inflation was seemingly moving further away from the central bank's 2% target in June as the impact of Donald Trump's so-called "reciprocal" tariffs began to be felt throughout the US economy.

On the macro front, US mortgage applications fell by 10% in the week ended 11 July, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association of America, more than reversing the prior week's 9.4% to register the sharpest decline in almost three months as benchmark mortgage rates increased by five basis points. Applications to refinance a mortgage sank by 12% week-on-week, while applications to purchase a home 7%.

Still to come, June capacity utilisation and industrial production figures will follow at 1415 BST.

In the corporate space, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley were all slated to report earnings on Wednesday.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com