Traders on the floor of the NYSE
Source: NYSE
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures slipped Wednesday as investors looked ahead to the Federal Reserve’s Wednesday meeting.
Futures tied to the Dow shed 116 points, or 0.3%. S&P 500 futures were down 0.2%, while Nasdaq-100 futures gained 0.1%.
The Fed at 2 p.m. ET will announce how much it is increasing interest rates in its latest effort to tame high inflation. Markets are expecting a 25 basis point, or 0.25 percentage point, bump from the central bank. On Tuesday, the employment cost index, a measure of wage increases, showed compensation rose 1% in the fourth quarter, less than the 1.1% estimate by Dow Jones. The Fed’s announcement will be followed by comments from Chair Jerome Powell.
Still, traders may be getting ahead of themselves in expecting a more dovish tone from the Fed, or looking for signs that a pause in hikes or even a pivot is coming soon.
The Fed’s message Wednesday “will push back against the pivot narrative and thereby current bond market pricing,” wrote DoubleLine’s Jeffrey Gundlach in a tweet. “Should be interesting.”
Wall Street is coming off a strong session to end January. The Dow ended Tuesday nearly 369 points higher, rising by 1.09%. The S&P 500 gained 1.46% to cap its best January performance since 2019. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose 1.67%, notching its best January performance in 22 years.
Earnings season continues as well. Peloton and Meta Platforms are scheduled to report quarterly results on Wednesday.
Snap shares dropped more than 15% after the social media company posted a disappointing quarterly revenue. The company’s average revenue per user, a key metric for Snap, also came in below expectations. Meanwhile, AMD reported better-than-expected earnings and revenue but warned of a 10% top-line decline in the first quarter.
