U.S. stock futures were mixed on Wednesday ahead of the crucial earnings from key U.S. technology companies and the Federal Reserve’s expected pause on rate cuts. Futures of all benchmark indices were up, except Dow Jones.

Traders will be waiting for cues from Fed Chairman Jerome Powell‘s speech to navigate the markets as President Donald Trump slowly unveils his plans on tariffs, deregulation, and immigration, among other economic developments.

The 10-year Treasury yield stood at 4.52%, while the two-year yield was at 4.19%. According to the CME Group's FedWatch tool, there is a 99.5% chance that the Federal Reserve will keep interest rates unchanged later today.

Cues From The Last Session

Markets rebound after Monday’s DeepSeek-triggered crash. Nasdaq surged 2%, with Nvidia Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) reclaiming some ground.

Mixed earnings reports saw General Motors Company (NYSE:GM) beat expectations while Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE:LMT) fell over 9%.

Economic data showed declining durable goods orders and rising home prices. Tech led the recovery, while utilities and real estate lagged. Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq all closed higher.

Insights From Analysts

According to Ed Yardeni and Eric Wallerstein from Yardeni Research, "U.S. stock market quickly confirmed our view that DeepSeek is a positive for the proliferation of AI, which should boost productivity and economic growth, especially in the U.S."

They expect that fourth-quarter earnings will continue to positively surprise the market. The Fed is likely to pause rate cuts due to better-than-expected economic growth, they said.

"The big companies will benefit from increased AI demand and cheaper internal costs. DeepSeek increases our confidence in our technology-driven, productivity-led Roaring 2020s scenario," they added.

Justin Wolfers, who is a professor at the University of Michigan and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and Peterson Institute told CNN that the Fed's job is not to surprise people.

"Watching the Fed is going to be a little bit boring for a few months because they're like the rest of us. They're gonna watch and see what happens. With inflation coming back down toward the Fed's target, you would normally expect to see the Fed continuing to bring interest rates back to normal," he said.

Wolfers said that all eyes are on Donald Trump's decision on tariffs and how the Fed will respond to it. According to him, the Fed could view the rise in inflation caused by tariffs as a "blip in inflation," and decide not to react or it could be worried that tariffs may have a real effect on inflation.

Upcoming Economic Data

Here’s what investors will keep an eye on Wednesday:

• On Wednesday, December's data for advanced U.S. trade balance in goods, advanced retail inventories, and advanced wholesale inventories will be released at 8:30 a.m., ET.
• The FOMC interest-rate decision will be out at 2:00 p.m. and Chairman Jerome Powell will address a press conference at 2:30 p.m., ET.

Stocks In Focus:

Commodities, Gold And Global Equity Markets:

Crude oil futures were trading lower in the early New York session by 0.99% to hover around $73.04 per barrel.

The gold spot index was down by 0.22% to $2,757.49 per ounce. The Dollar Index was up 0.22% at 108.105 level.

Asian markets were mostly higher on Wednesday except China's CSI 300 index. Australia's ASX 200, Japan's Nikkei 225, South Korea's Kospi, Hong Kong's Hang Seng, and India's S&P BSE Sensex rose. European markets were also higher in trade.

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