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U.S. stock index futures edged lower on Wednesday as investors absorbed results from Microsoft and Alphabet, and the focus turned to the Federal Reserve policy decision later in the day.
How are stock-index futures trading
-
S&P 500 futures
ES00,
-0.24%
dipped 7 points, or 0.2%, to 4,589 -
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures
YM00,
-0.32%
fell 62 points, or 0.2%, to 35,545 -
Nasdaq 100 futures
NQ00,
-0.29%
eased 37 points, or 0.2%, to 15,636
On Tuesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
rose 27 points, or 0.08%, to 35438, the S&P 500
SPX,
increased 13 points, or 0.28%, to 4567, and the Nasdaq Composite
COMP,
gained 86 points, or 0.61%, to 14145.
What’s driving markets
Moves in equity index futures were meager in early action Wednesday as traders eschewed bold bets ahead of the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy decision due at 2 p.m. Eastern.
The central bank is widely expected to raise its policy interest rate by another 25 basis points to a range of 5.25% to 5.50%, but markets are unsure whether that will mark the end of this current monetary tightening cycle.
Consequently, it is the Fed’s accompanying statement and comments from Chair Jerome Powell at his press conference, starting at 2:30 p.m., that will carry the greater heft, as investors seek guidance on the future trajectory for borrowing costs.
“A +25bp hike is largely expected but that is not what will move markets. It is the qualitative views around the Fed’s sense of progress on the inflation war that matters,” wrote Tom Lee, head of research at Fundstrat, in a note to clients.
Lee added that given the Fed’s likely comments and how the market is set up, he thought the probabilities favor an S&P 500 index rally post-FOMC of greater than 1%.
Meanwhile, also contributing to the market’s relative stasis on Wednesday were counteracting reactions on the earnings front.
Shares in tech behemoths Microsoft
MSFT,
and Alphabet
GOOG,
went in opposite directions following their results and guidance late on Tuesday, leaving the Nasdaq Composite in line for a somewhat soft start to the new session.
Traders are in the middle of a week in which about 170 companies from the S&P 500, representing roughly 40% of the benchmark’s market capitalization, will report their earnings.
The results of AT&T
T,
Boeing
BA,
Coca-Cola
KO,
and General Dynamics
GD,
will be published before Wednesday’s opening bell rings on Wall Street, while Meta Platforms
META,
Lam Research
LRCX,
and eBay
EBAY,
will feature after the close.
U.S. economic updates set for release on Wednesday include new home sales for June, due at 10 a.m. Eastern.
