U.S. stock futures were muted in morning trading Wednesday as investors awaited a decision from the Federal Reserve on its move to start withdrawing the support it has been providing.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials dipped 53 points, or 0.2%, to 35,885.
Futures for the S&P 500 handed back 3.25 points, or 0.1%, to 4,607
Futures for the NASDAQ Composite Index gained 21.5 points, or 0.1%, to 15,982.75.
Lyft jumped nearly 13% in after hours trading on better-than-expected third-quarter results. Zillow fell more than 11% after announcing it will close its home buying and flipping business. Shares of Bed Bath & Beyond rose on a partnership announcement with Kroger but the nearly 70% after hours surge that followed was likely fueled by a short squeeze.
Activision shares tumbled, falling nearly 12% after it said the launch of two games would be delayed. The company also issued a weaker holiday outlook thought it did beat profit estimates for the quarter.
Investors are focused on the Federal Reserve, which is expected to announce the timeline for a gradual reduction in its bond-buying program Wednesday at the conclusion of its two-day meeting. They’ll also be listening for clues on when the central bank plans to raise interest rates.
Fed Chairman Jerome Powell is expected to stress that the reduction process known as tapering does not equate to tightening policy. Traders are pricing in a more aggressive path of interest rate hikes than the Fed is anticipating, so Powell may try to talk the market down.
Equities rose Tuesday as companies continued to deliver strong earnings reports. Of the S&P 500 companies that have reported so far this earnings season, 83% of them have beat consensus expectations. That’s despite ongoing supply chain disruptions, labor challenges, commodity inflation, central bank policy and COVID risk.
Investors also will get a look at the jobs market when payrolls processing firm ADP releases its report on private employment Wednesday morning. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones expect the report to show that companies added 395,000 positions for October.
Overseas, in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng fell 0.3%, while markets in Japan were closed for holiday.
Oil prices fell $1.86 to $82.05 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices removed $2.90 to $1,786.50 U.S. an ounce.