Stocks - U.S. Futures Muted Ahead of Fed Decision
Published Mar 20, 2019 06:53AM ET
Investing.com - U.S. futures fell slightly on Wednesday ahead of the conclusion of the Federal Reserve's policy-making meeting later in the day.
The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) is widely expected to keep interest rates on hold. The central bank will also release its updated forecasts for economic growth and expectations for the likely path of interest rates, known as the dot-plot.
Dow futures fell 12 points to 0.05% by 6:51 AM ET (10:51 GMT), while S&P 500 futures lost 1 point or 0.04% and tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures was down half-a-point or 0.01%.
Trade risk also weighed on stocks, as talks between U.S. and Chinese officials enter their final stage. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin are expected to fly to Beijing next week to meet with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, with a Chinese delegation flying to Washington in early April.
Google parent company Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) could see movement on Wednesday, after news that it is moving into the video game space, while Bayer, the owner of Monsanto (NYSE:MON), has fallen sharply in Europe after a U.S. jury found its weedkiller Roundup caused the cancer of an American man.
Semiconductor company Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD) gained 1.3%, while Micron (NASDAQ:MU) rose 0.8% and Walt Disney (NYSE:DIS) inched up 0.3%. Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) was up 0.8% after it postponed planned price increases on its vehicles due to “unusually high volume.”
Elsewhere, AB Inbev (NYSE:BUD) fell 0.6% on news that it is changing up its board, with two representatives of private equity group 3G Capital departing.
FedEx (NYSE:FDX) slumped 6.9% after its earnings missed estimates, while Tencent Music Entertainment (NYSE:TME), the Chinese rival of Spotify (NYSE:SPOT), lost 4.4% after posting a loss of $130 million in its first quarterly results since going public.
In commodities, gold futures slipped 0.3% to $1,303.15 a troy ounce, while crude oil declined 1% to $58.67. The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, rose 0.1% to 95.905.
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Written By: Investing.com
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