Wall Street futures pointed moderately higher pre-bell Wednesday, as traders awaited the pending rate decision from the Federal Reserve. The nation's central bank will announce its policy-rate decision at 2 pm ET in Washington, followed at 2:30 pm by a press conference with Chair Jerome Powell. There is a 95.4% chance the Fed will cut rates by 0.25%, as indicated by the CME Group FedWatch tool.
In the futures market, the S&P 500 rose 0.3%, the Nasdaq inclined 0.2% and the Dow Jones was up 0.2%. Asian exchanges traded mixed overnight, while European bourses edged higher midday on the continent. Worthington Industries (WOR) gained 12.6% pre-bell after the metals-fabricator reported fiscal Q2 earnings above consensus expectations, late Tuesday.
General Mills (GIS) and Toro (TTC) plan to report earnings pre-bell, among others. On the economic calendar, in addition to the Fed action, is the weekly MBA mortgage applications bulletin at 7 am ET, followed by the November housing starts and permits bulletin, and the Q3 current account report, at 8:30 am ET.
The Atlanta Fed Business Inflation Expectations for December report posts at 10 am, followed by the weekly EIA petroleum status bulletin at 10:30 am. In premarket action, Bitcoin traded at $104,395, West Texas Intermediate crude oil traded steadily at $70.03, and 10-year US Treasuries offered 4.41%.
Spot gold traded for $2,648 an ounce..