By Peter Nurse
Investing.com - U.S. stocks are set to open mostly higher Wednesday, with markets still searching for direction after Tuesday’s volatile session as investors struggle to gauge the spread of coronavirus across the country.
At 7:15 AM ET (1115 GMT), futures for the S&P 500 traded 21 points, or 0.8%, higher, futures for the Nasdaq up 82 points, or 1.0%. The Dow futures contract rose 191 points, or 0.8%.
A wave of late selling hit stocks Tuesday as an early rally ran out of steam. The Dow fell 0.1%, or 26 points, but had been up about 937 points at the highs of the day. The S&P 500 fell 0.2% and the Nasdaq Composite ended 0.3% lower.
The number of Covid-19 cases in the U.S. has reached 400,000, doubling over the last week, with over 12,000 deaths.
There are signs the measures, including social distancing, in hot spots like New York and New Jersey are helping to curb the outbreak, but fears exist that other states, like Florida and Louisiana, could see a wave of infections.
Helping the tone are comments from Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, that the Trump administration is in talks with Congress to secure an additional $250 billion to fund loans for small businesses hit by the coronavirus pandemic.
In corporate news, Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) said it was cutting wages and putting staff on temporary leave until it decides to reopen its main faciity in Fremont.
Boeing (NYSE:BA) announced late Tuesday it would have to make two new software updates to its 737 MAX’s flight control computer as it works to win regulatory approval to resume flights.
Also of interest will be the release of the minutes of the two emergency meetings held by the Federal Open Market Committee last month, when the central bank slashed rates to 0% to 0.25%, announced a huge amount of quantitative easing, as well as expanding repo operations and credit for commercial banks.
The minutes are due for release at 2 PM ET (1800 GMT).
Oil prices rebounded a touch after dropping sharply overnight as traders remain focused on a possible output cut deal from meetings of OPEC+ on Thursday and then the G20 energy ministers on Friday.
The EIA will issue its weekly U.S. oil inventory numbers at 10:30 AM ET (14:30 GMT), with analysts looking for a rise of about 9.3 million barrels for the week ended April 3.
At 7:15AM ET, U.S. crude futures traded 2.8% higher at $24.30 a barrel, while the international benchmark Brent contract fell 0.2% to $31.82.
Additionally, gold futures rose 0.1% to $1,685.90/oz, while EUR/USD traded at $1.0869, down 0.2%.