Wall Street looks to rebound from Omicron-driven slump

Stock futures inch higher

U.S. stock futures are pointing to a green start on Wednesday after all three major averages finished in the red during the previous session.

As of 5:10 a.m. ET, futures tied to the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average were up 295 points, or 0.86% to 34,752.

S&P 500 futures rose 53 points, or 1.16% to 4,619.25 while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures rallied 216 points, or 1.34% to 16,366.50.

On Tuesday, the Dow plunged 652.22 points, or 1.86% to close the session at 34,483.72. S&P 500 lost 88.27 points, or 1.90% to 4,567 while the Nasdaq Composite gave away 245.14 points or 1.55% to 15,537.69.

The losses came after Moderna (NASDAQ: MRNA) CEO Stephane Bancel warned that it could take months to make and distribute Omicron-specific vaccines.

Meanwhile, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said in testimony in front of the Senate Banking Committee that it makes sense for the central bank to ramp up the taper of its bond-buying program.

Salesforces slides on weak guidance

Salesforce (NYSE: CRM) reported decent third-quarter earnings late Tuesday but the stock fell anyway.

Shares of eBay fell because the company provided a lower-than-expected earnings outlook for the current quarter ending in January.

Salesforce posted adjusted Q3 earnings of $1.27 per share, up 27% on a year-over-year basis and above analysts’ estimates of 92 cents per share. Revenue came in at $6.86 billion, topping estimates of $6.80 billion.

Turning to the guidance, Salesforce is guiding third-quarter revenue in a range of $7.224 to $7.234 billion versus the $7.23 billion predicted by the analysts.

However, the company said it expects earnings of between 72 cents to 73 cents a share, missing estimates for a profit of 82 cents a share.

Salesforce stock lost $17.71, or 6.21% to $267.25 per share in the pre-market trading session Wednesday.

Crude futures rise ahead of OPEC+ meeting

Meanwhile, crude futures were also trading in the green territory on Wednesday as traders awaited the start of a crucial meeting of major oil producers and bet that the omicron Covid variant would not slow economic recovery.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies including Russia, a group known as OPEC+, is set to meet today and Thursday.

Some analysts believe concerns about the omicron Covid variant could pressure the group to halt monthly oil output hikes that would have raised output by additional 400,000 barrels per day in January.

As of 5:10 a.m. ET, U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were up $2.95, or 4.46% to $69.13 a barrel. International Brent crude futures rose $3.25, or 4.69% to $72.48 a barrel.