U.S. stock futures point to losses for Wall Street as delta worries linger

Fed's Bullard says 'taper will get going this year'.

U.S. equity futures indicated a weaker start for Wall Street on Wednesday, with even technology stocks set to falter amid lingering growth worries surrounding the highly contagious delta variant of coronavirus.

How are stock-index futures trading?

On Tuesday, the Dow industrials fell 269 points, or 0.8%, to finish at 35,100, the S&P 500 slipped 15.40 points, or 0.3%, to end at 4,520.03. The Nasdaq Composite gained 10.81 points, or 0.1%, to finish at 15,374.33.

What's driving the market?

Tuesday's mixed session came as investors continued to weigh up last week's weaker-than-expected U.S. payroll data, with a clutch of Wall Street banks, including Goldman Sachs, cutting their growth targets in the wake of those weak numbers.

But St. Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard said the central bank would press on with plans to ease fiscal stimulus, and brushed aside worries over slowing employment, in an interview that published Wednesday.

"There is plenty of demand for workers and there are more job openings than there are unemployed workers," Bullard told the Financial Times. Getting the two "matched up" will contribute to a "very strong" labor market headed into 2022, he said.

"The big picture is that the taper will get going this year and will end sometime by the first half of next year," Bullard added.

More employment data is ahead, with July job openings due at 10 a.m. Eastern, followed by the Federal Reserve's Beige Book at 2 p.m. Eastern and consumer credit at 3 p.m. Eastern.

"Investors on the whole have enjoyed a fairly decent run this year, but now attention is turning from the post-lockdown spending splurge to how corporate earnings might fare next year," said Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, in a note to clients.

"There is a sense that some of the market forecasts have been too optimistic and so there could be some share price disappointment unless we see GDP figures pick up and the COVID delta variant stops causing so much trouble," he said.