Investing.com - U.S. futures pointed to a higher opening on Wednesday after a sharp decline that President Donald Trump suggested was a buying opportunity.
The blue-chip Dow futures gained 98 points, or 0.45%, to 21,798.0 points by 6:41 AM ET (11:41 GMT), while S&P 500 futures rose 13 points, or 0.55%, to 2,354.62 points. Meanwhile the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures traded up 26 points, or 0.44%, to 5,918.12 points.
Monday's shortened pre-Christmas trading session saw U.S. equities suffer their worst Christmas Eve ever, with the Dow plunging more than 600 points, while the S&P 500 closed on the brink of bear market territory.
Trump blamed the decline on the Federal Reserve, saying that “they're raising interest rates too fast because they think the economy is so good. But I think that they will get it pretty soon.”
Trump also expressed his optimism that stocks would bounce back.
“I have great confidence in our companies. We have companies, the greatest in the world, and they're doing really well. They have record kinds of numbers. So I think it's a tremendous opportunity to buy,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Tuesday.
But analysts remained skeptical in the face of political turmoil in Washington which led to a partial government shutdown on Saturday as Trump insisted on Democrats granting him funding for a southern border wall.
“I can't tell you when the government is going to reopen,” Trump said, speaking after a Christmas Day video conference with U.S. troops serving abroad. “I can tell you it's not going to reopen until we have a wall, a fence, whatever they'd like to call it. I'll call it whatever they want, but it's all the same thing. It's a barrier from people pouring into the country, from drugs.”
He added: “If you don't have that (the wall), then we're just not opening.”
Masahiro Ichikawa, senior strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui Asset Management said "markets are now having to grapple with growing turmoil in the White House which has raised political risk.''
Wednesday’s economic calendar is relatively thin with the latest report on home prices from S&P/Case-Shiller due at 9:00 AM ET (14:00 GMT), followed by the Richmond Fed’s monthly report on manufacturing activity at 10AM ET (15:00 GMT).
Ahead of the data, the U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against six rival currencies, was up 0.25% to 96.25 by 6:41 AM ET (11:41 GMT).
Gold futures rose 0.37% to $1,276.55 a troy ounce, while crude oil advanced 1.18% to $43.03 a barrel.
-- Reuters contributed to this report.