US Futures Moved Down As Investors Await Federal Reserve Decision On Monetary Policy

US futures fell as the investors moved to the sidelines, awaiting the Federal Reserve decision on the monetary policy, today. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 6 points to 10,665 and S&P 500 futures moved down 0.90 points to 1,136. Nasdaq 100 futures lost 0.75 points to 1,981. The blue-chip Dow index jumped 1.37% to mark its highest closing since May 13. Mads Koefoed, market strategist at Saxo Bank said, “There is no doubt that generally investors are overlooking all the bad signs in the economy.” He added, “We had a bad housing number yesterday, but nothing bites right now.” As per the Monday's data, the NAHB/Wells Fargo housing-market index stayed at multi month low in September. More housing data on housing starts for August is scheduled to release at 8:30 a.m. ET. The Fed is scheduled to announce its decision on monetary policy at 2:15 p.m. ET. Koefoed said, “Perhaps the market is setting itself up for a letdown if the FOMC [Federal Open Market Committee] decides to do nothing today.” He mentioned, “We expect more quantitative easing, but it's too soon right now. We think it's much more likely they will do it in November.” Jeffrey Kleintop, chief market strategist at LPL Financial, said, “We put about a 25% chance of quantitative easing in September, with a greater chance of action at the November meeting scheduled the day after the mid-term elections.” He added, “If the Fed does act and announces action at their meeting on Tuesday, the stock market may break out of its current range to the upside.” ConAgra Inc

, AutoZone Inc

and Carnival Corp

are all set to post their latest quarter results today. Shares of Nokia Corp

dropped about 1.7% in thin pre-market trading after the company reported to delay its N8 smartphone delivery by some weeks. Asian stocks ended mixed, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average losing 0.3%. European equity markets gained driven by successful Irish bond auction. The Stoxx Europe 600 index moved up about 0.12%. The dollar moved down versus majority of its rivals, with the dollar index (DXY) losing about 0.40%. Oil futures lost $0.70 to $74.16 per barrel in electronic trading on Globex, while the gold futures rose $2.20 to $1,283 an ounce. Read more