Stock futures pointed higher Wednesday ahead of the Federal Reserve’s decision on interest rates and earnings reports from several tech giants, while Nvidia was on the cusp of becoming the first company to have a $5 trillion valuation.
Futures associated with the tech-heavy Nasdaq, benchmark S&P 500, and blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average were up a respective 0.4%, 0.2%, and 0.1% after all three indexes set both intraday and closing records for a third straight session yesterday.
At 2 p.m. ET today, the Federal Reserve is expected to cut interest rates by 25 basis points to a target range of 3.75% to 4%, a back-to-back reduction after September’s action, followed 30 minutes later by a press conference from Fed Chair Jerome Powell. Analysts anticipate the Fed will soon end its quantitative tightening program, possibly by December, as liquidity tightens.
Investors also are keeping an eye on U.S.-China trade talk developments. President Donald Trump is set to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in South Korea on Thursday.
Nvidia (NVDA) shares, which jumped 5% to an all-time high yesterday, were up a further 3.3% before the bell. Were they to open at that level, Nvidia would become the first company to be worth $5 trillion.
Magnificent Seven members Microsoft (MSFT), Meta Platforms (META), and Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL) all will report quarterly earnings after markets close today. Shares of Microsoft, whose market capitalization surpassed $4 trillion yesterday, were up 0.3% before the bell, while those of Meta and Alphabet were a respective 0.4% and 0.5% higher.
Another company that crossed the $4 trillion market cap threshold yesterday was Apple (AAPL), which is slated to report earnings after the bell on Thursday along with Amazon (AMZN). Shares of Apple and Amazon—which said Tuesday it would reduce its corporate workforce by about 14,000 roles— were up 0.2% and down 0.2%, respectively.
Shares of Caterpillar (CAT) were up more than 4% after it reported stronger-than-expected results, while fellow Dow component Boeing (BA) also was set to post earnings before the bell. Centene (CNC) stock soared 10% after the healthcare company posted an unexpected adjusted profit and lifted its full-year outlook.
Gold futures rebounded above $4,000 an ounce, rising 1.5% to $4,040 in recent trading. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures edged higher to $60.25 a barrel.
The 10-year Treasury yield was little changed at 3.99%, while the U.S. dollar index, which tracks the value of the greenback against a basket of foreign currencies, advanced 0.2% to 98.84. Bitcoin was trading in a tight range and recently was at $113,100.