US Stock Futures Edge Higher; All Eyes On Fed Decision

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded slightly higher in early pre-market trade on Wednesday after recording losses on Tuesday. The Dow Jones closed lower by more than 300 points, while the Nasdaq Composite fell over 100 points in the previous session.

The Federal Reserve will announce its policy decision at 2:00 p.m. ET. The country’s central bank is widely expected to raise interest rates by 75 bps at the meeting. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell will hold a press conference at 2:30 p.m. ET.

Data on existing home sales for August will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. US existing home sales, which have been declining every month since February, are likely to come in at an annualized rate of 4.70 for August compared to 4.81 million in the previous month.

Investors are also awaiting earnings results from General Mills, Inc. GIS, Lennar Corporation LEN and KB Home KBH.

Check out this: Market Volatility Increases Sharply Ahead Of Fed's Rate Decision

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 34 points to 30,835.00 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures rose 4.75 points to 3,877.50. Futures for the Nasdaq index rose 8.25 points to 11,930.50.

Commodities

Oil prices traded higher as Brent crude futures rose 2.6% to trade at $92.95 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures rose 2% to trade at $86.15 a barrel. Stocks of crude oil in the US rose by 1.035 million barrels in the week ended September 16th, versus a 6.035 million barrel-gain in the previous week. The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on petroleum inventories in the U.S. is scheduled for release at 10:30 a.m. ET.

Gold futures gained 0.5% to trade at $1,678.80 an ounce, while silver traded up 1.2% at $19.42 an ounce on Wednesday.

 

A Peek Into Global Markets

Europe Markets

European markets were mostly higher today. The STOXX Europe 600 Index rose 0.3%, London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.6% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index gained 0.2%. The French CAC 40 Index fell 0.1%, while German DAX dropped 0.2%.

Public sector net borrowing, excluding public sector banks, in the UK came in at £11.8 billion for August.

Asia-Pacific Markets

Asian markets traded lower today. Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 1.36%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 1.79% and China’s Shanghai Composite Index slipped 0.17%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 1.6%, while India’s S&P BSE SENSEX slipped 0.2%.

The Westpac-Melbourne Institute Leading Economic Index in Australia slipped 0.1% from a year ago in August.

 

Broker Recommendation

Goldman Sachs upgraded The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. EL from Neutral to Buy and raises the price target from $298 to $303.

Estee Lauder shares rose 1.1% to $242.23 in pre-market trading.

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Breaking News

 

• Stitch Fix SFIX reported a wider-than-expected loss for its fourth quarter and issued weak Q1 sales guidance.
• Chinese battery maker Guoxuan High Tech Co is planning to set up a Michigan that is expected to create 2,000 new jobs, the Detroit News reported on Tuesday, citing sources.
• Alpine Immune Sciences, Inc. ALPN reported the pricing of its underwritten public offering of 13,606,000 shares pursuant to its existing shelf registration statement.
• The assets of defunct cryptocurrency lender Voyager Digital Ltd. VYGVQ have attracted the highest bids from cryptocurrency exchanges FTX and Binance, according to the Wall Street Journal, which cited persons familiar with the situation.

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