U.S. stock futures rose on Wednesday after ending lower on Tuesday. Futures of major benchmark indices were slightly higher.
Investors await the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee’s decision to keep the interest rates steady, as anticipated by the Wall Street participants, as its two-day meeting will end today.
Jerome Powell will address a press conference in the afternoon, which will give investors more insights into what they could expect from September’s FOMC decision.
Apart from this, Wall Street is also bracing itself as the tech giants, Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ:META) will be reporting earnings today.
Meanwhile, the 10-year Treasury bond yielded 4.33% and the two-year bond was at 3.87%. The CME Group's FedWatch tool‘s projections show markets pricing a 97.4% likelihood of the Federal Reserve keeping the current interest rates unchanged today.
| Futures | Change (+/-) |
| Dow Jones | 0.01% |
| S&P 500 | 0.07% |
| Nasdaq 100 | 0.15% |
| Russell 2000 | 0.35% |
The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE:SPY) and Invesco QQQ Trust ETF (NASDAQ:QQQ), which track the S&P 500 index and Nasdaq 100 index, respectively, were higher in premarket on Wednesday. The SPY was up 0.091% at $635.84, while the QQQ advanced 0.19% to $568.32, according to Benzinga Pro data.
Cues From Last Session:
On Tuesday, while real estate and utilities stocks bucked the overall market trend by closing higher, most sectors on the S&P 500 closed on a negative note, with industrials, consumer discretionary, and health care stocks recording the biggest losses.
UnitedHealth Group Inc. (NYSE:UNH) reported downbeat second-quarter 2025 earnings and reestablished its 2025 guidance. Conversely, The Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE:PG) reported better-than-expected earnings for the second quarter.
On the economic data front, June saw job openings decline by 275,000 to 7.437 million, falling short of market expectations of 7.55 million.
The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Home Price Index for May showed a 2.8% year-over-year increase. U.S. wholesale inventories in June rose 0.2% month-over-month to $907.7 billion.
Additionally, the U.S. trade deficit in goods for June shrank by $10.4 billion to $86 billion. Investors anticipate the Federal Reserve will announce its interest-rate decision today, with no change in rates expected.
| Index | Performance (+/-) | Value |
| Nasdaq Composite | -0.38% | 21,098.29 |
| S&P 500 | -0.30% | 6,370.86 |
| Dow Jones | -0.46% | 44,632.99 |
| Russell 2000 | -0.61% | 2,242.96 |
Insights From Analysts:
As the FOMC is expected to keep the interest rates unchanged, Ed Yardeni of Yardeni Research said in his daily newsletter that “There is a good chance that Governors Michelle Bowman and Christopher Waller will dissent.”
“They were both appointed by Trump. They have both stated that they want to cut the FFR now before the labor market weakens. If they don’t dissent, then the stock and bond markets could rally significantly on expectations that the FOMC participants are leaning toward cutting the FFR in September, thus placating the two potential dissenters,” he added.
Meanwhile, Alex Tsepaev, the chief strategy officer at B2PRIME Group said that “Taking into account the not very positive statistics from the United States regarding inflation, the rate is unlikely to be lowered this week — that would be too optimistic.”
He explained that other Federal Reserve officers express a similar opinion: the U.S. economy is showing signs of weakening, even if it looks fine on the surface.
He adds, “Although not only Trump, but the entire market is waiting for the cut, most likely the Fed will continue the decline in September if the economic situation gets better.”
Additionally, Louis Navellier of Navellier & Associates said that “The Aug. 1st deadline is being adhered to and providing the financial markets with more certainty.”
According to him, many European manufacturers, “especially the automotive companies, are expected to onshore more of their manufacturing due to not only 15% tariffs, but also more expensive electricity and labor costs.”
See Also: How to Trade Futures
Upcoming Economic Data
Here’s what investors will keep an eye on Wednesday:
- July ADP employment will be out by 8:15 a.m. and the second quarter’s GDP data will be released by 8:30 a.m. ET.
- June’s pending home sales data will be released by 10:00 a.m. and the FOMC interest rate decision will be bout by 2:00 p.m., with the Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell addressing a press conference at 2:30 p.m. ET.
Stocks In Focus:
- Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ:META) was up 0.87% in premarket on Wednesday as analysts expect it to report earnings of $5.86 per share on revenue of $44.58 billion after the closing bell.
- Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT) was 0.12% higher than the flatline as it is expected to report earnings after the closing bell. Analysts estimate earnings of $3.37 per share on revenue of $73.80 billion.
- Kraft Heinz Co. (NASDAQ:KHC) was down 0.98% as analysts expect it to report earnings of 64 cents per share on revenue of $6.26 billion before the opening bell.
- Starbucks Corp. (NASDAQ:SBUX) rose 4.54% despite mixed earnings as its turnaround story was cheered by investors via its ‘Back to Starbucks’ initiative.
- Logitech International SA (NASDAQ:LOGI) advanced 1.76% after reporting better-than-expected first-quarter financial results.
- Aclaris Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:ACRS) jumped 12.26% after it reported positive top-line results from its open-label Phase 2a trial of ATI-2138, a potent and selective investigational inhibitor of interleukin-2-inducible T cell kinase (ITK) and Janus kinase 3 (JAK3).
- LendingClub Corp. (NYSE:LC) climbed 23.57% following the release of its second-quarter financial results. Scott Sanborn, CEO, LendingClub, also announced a loan funding partnership extension with alternative asset manager Blue Owl, totaling up to $3.4 billion over two years.
- Rocky Brands Inc. (NASDAQ:RCKY) gained 28.37% following the release of its second-quarter results, aided by its diversified manufacturing and sourcing base as highlighted by CEO Jason Brooks.
Commodities, Gold, And Global Equity Markets:
Crude oil futures were trading lower in the early New York session by 0.48% to hover around $68.88 per barrel.
Gold Spot US Dollar rose 0.21% to hover around $3,333.34 per ounce. Its last record high stood at $3,500.33 per ounce. The U.S. Dollar Index spot was lower by 0.09% at the 98.7960 level.
Asian markets ended on a mixed note on Wednesday, as China’s CSI 300, Japan's Nikkei 225, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng indices fell. South Korea's Kospi, India's S&P BSE Sensex, and Australia's ASX 200 indices rose. European markets were also mixed in early trade.
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