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U.S. stock futures crept down, pointing to muted declines after the S&P 500 snapped a three-day losing streak.

Futures for the benchmark stocks gauge, which jumped 1.8% Tuesday, ticked down 0.2% Wednesday. Contracts for the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.1%. Futures for the Nasdaq-100 slipped 0.3%.

Stocks have been choppy, posting big down days and up days, as investors seek to determine how severe the economic impact of the rapid spread of Omicron will be. Adding to nervousness in the market, investors are preparing for the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates in 2022 and are trimming positions before year-end.

“Some investors just want to protect some of their profits, I would assume,” said Daniel Egger, chief investment officer at Switzerland-based St. Gotthard Fund Management. “This volatility could spill over into next year.”

The yield on 10-year Treasury notes fell to 1.473% from 1.487% Tuesday. Yields move in the opposite direction to bond prices. The WSJ Dollar Index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of currencies, rose 0.1%.

Due at 10 a.m. ET, the Conference Board’s consumer-confidence index is forecast to tick higher, after inflation and the pandemic knocked sentiment in November. Property-market data, due at the same time, are expected to show sales of existing homes rose for a third consecutive month in November.

Overseas stock markets were mixed. The pan-continental Stoxx Europe 600 ticked up 0.1%, led higher by shares of technology and healthcare companies. In Asia, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.6%, Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.2% and the Shanghai Composite Index slipped 0.1%.

Delivery Herorose 5.6% after the German food-delivery firm said it planned to sell its Foodpanda subsidiary’s operations in Japan and shrink them in Germany. Rio Tinto fell 2.4% in London after the mining company said it had agreed to buy an Argentine lithium project for $825 million, seeking to tap into demand for battery minerals.

A.P. Moller-Maerskrose 0.8% after the Copenhagen-listed shipping giant said it had agreed to buy LF Logistics for around $3.6 billion including lease liabilities, confirming a report in The Wall Street Journal.

In commodity markets, European natural-gas prices extended a spell of intense volatility as traders brace for potential shortages by spring. Prices for benchmark Dutch gas fell 10% Wednesday after leaping more than 20% to a record high Tuesday. A drop in the volume of gas flowing to Europe from Russia was the catalyst for the latest swings.