Traders work at the New York Stock Exchange on Dec. 17, 2024.
U.S. stock futures were slightly higher on Wednesday morning as traders looked ahead to the Federal Reserve's December interest rate decision.
Futures linked to the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 92 points, or 0.2%. S&P 500 futures added 0.15%, while Nasdaq 100 futures inched up 0.1%.
The Dow slipped 267.58 points, or 0.61%, during the regular session for a nine-day losing streak, its longest since 1978. The S&P 500 slipped 0.39%, while tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.32%.
These losses come before the Federal Open Market Committee's policy decision, which is due out on Wednesday afternoon. Fed funds futures trading currently shows a 95% chance that the central bank will cut interest rates by a quarter percentage point, according to the CME FedWatch tool.
Investors will also be paying close attention to Fed policymakers' Summary of Economic Projections and Fed Chair Jerome Powell's press conference, seeking clues about what might happen in the months ahead. The central bank is widely expected to temper runaway expectations of more rate cuts in the approaching year, particularly as inflation remains stubborn.
"I think we'll get a cut tomorrow, but I think the language and the tenor will probably be as hawkish as we've seen from Powell in a while," said Ross Mayfield, investment strategist at Baird. "While they're not going to act on policy that hasn't yet been made, I think that they will be a little hesitant to commit to, say, four-plus rate cuts in 2025 when there's so much unsettled."
In turn, hawkish commentary on Wednesday could tee up stocks for a selloff. But Mayfield added he was optimistic that volatility around Fed meetings usually doesn't linger for very long.
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"We've seen some big moves on days where the Fed has announced a policy change and how it spoke — and these were either reversed later on, or gains were given back or losses cut later on. So I'm not overly worried about what happens in the immediate aftermath tomorrow," he added.
Before Wednesday's bell, General Mills, Birkenstock and Jabil are due to report their latest earnings. Results from Micron Technology and Lennar are due in the afternoon.
Market performance on Fed days has been weakest under Chair Powell, Bespoke Investment Group says
Market performance on Fed days has been weakest during Powell's tenure as chair, as compared to the three other Fed chairs coming before him, according to a tweet from Bespoke Investment Group. The tweet added that this statistic was especially true in the last trading hour of the day.
On average, the S&P 500 rose just 0.11% under Powell. Under Yellen, the S&P 500 averaged a 0.16% rise, while this rose to 0.26% under Greenspan's tenure. Market performance on Fed days was at its highest under Bernanke's tenure, averaging a 0.50% advance.
— Lisa Kailai Han
Ten out of 11 sectors ended Tuesday's session negative
Ten of the 11 GICS sectors ended Tuesday in the red, led to the downside by industrials, which slipped 0.9%.
On the other hand, the consumer discretionary sector was the only one to end the day higher and gained 0.28%.
All sectors are still positive for the year, led by communication services, up 44.08%. Health care, which has added just 1.73%, is the laggard.
— Lisa Kailai Han, Christopher Hayes
Stocks futures are little changed
Stock futures traded near flat Tuesday night.
Futures tied to the Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 were all marginally below the flatline shortly after 6 p.m. ET.
— Lisa Kailai Han
