The minutes of the previous Fed meeting, in which it raised interest rates by half a percentage point and warned that rates may have to stay higher for longer, will be released at 2 p.m. ET (1900 GMT).
Meanwhile, US-listed Chinese companies, such as Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, JD.com Inc and Baidu Inc, jumped more than 6% on hopes of a post-COVID recovery in China and rumors of support for the real estate sector of the country.
Major Wall Street indexes got off to a rocky start into 2023 on Tuesday, with the biggest losers Tesla Inc. after the EV maker missed delivery estimates and Apple Inc. tumbling after a ratings drop.
The declines follow a major blow to US stocks in 2022 on fears of a recession due to aggressive monetary policy tightening, with the three major stock indexes posting the biggest annual losses since 2008.
Investors will also be watching the US Department of Labor job openings data and ISM manufacturing data due at 10:00 AM ET on Wednesday to gauge the strength of the US economy.
“The minutes of the last Fed meeting will be eaten later, looking for clues about how much to hike rates before policymakers consider hitting the pause button,” said Susannah Streeter, senior investment analyst and market at Hargreaves Lansdown.
Market participants see a 68.8% probability that the US central bank will hike rates by 25 basis points in February and see rates peaking at 4.95% in June.
The most comprehensive nonfarm payrolls report is due on Friday, with investors hoping to see signs of a cooling labor market that could give the Fed a reason to slow monetary policy tightening.
As of 6 a.m. ET, the Dow e-minis were up 65 points, or 0.2%, the S&P 500 e-minis were up 11.75 points, or 0.31%, and the Nasdaq 100 was up 50.25 points, or 0.46 per cent.
Microsoft Corp slipped 2.1% in premarket trading after UBS downgraded the company’s shares to “neutral”.