Investing.com – Wall Street futures pointed to flat open on Wednesday, as indices looked set to hover near record highs while looking ahead to the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy decision.
The blue-chip Dow futures and tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures was unchanged, at 7:06AM ET (11:06GMT), the S&P 500 futures inched up 1 point, or 0.02%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures edged forward 1 point, or 0.01%.
The Federal Reserve is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged at its current range of 1.00% to 1.25% in its announcement at 2:00PM ET (18:00GMT) on Wednesday and also reveal its plans for the winding down, or tapering, of its asset purchases in order to begin, likely in October, the reduction of its $4.5 trillion balance sheet.
Market participants will pay particular attention to the Fed’s updated economic projections and, particularly, the dot plot that anonymously maps out policymakers’ individual forecast for interest rates with an eye towards whether tepid inflation has forced the central bank to give a more dovish outlook on the future path of interest rates.
As it currently stands, Fed fund futures price in the odds of an increase by the end of the year at around 57%, according to Investing.com's Fed Rate Monitor Tool.
Investors will look for further details and clarification from Fed chair Janet Yellen’s press conference at 2:30PM ET (20:30GMT).
Despite the fact that the U.S. central bank was expected to announce a historic decision with the unwinding of its balance sheet, sentiment in the greenback remained weak, helping to support gold prices on Wednesday.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, lost 0.16% to 91.47 by 7:08AM ET (11:08GMT).
Conversely, gold for December delivery on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange was up $8.25, or about 0.6%. at $1,318.85.
Though eclipsed by anticipation for the Fed’s decision and Yellen’s comments, investors will also digest existing home sales for August out at 10:00AM ET (14:00GMT) Wednesday.
Meanwhile, oil prices gained on Wednesday after Iraq's oil minister said OPEC and other crude producers were considering extending or even deepening a supply cut to curb a global glut and investors turned their attention to official weekly oil inventory data.
While options being considered by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and other producers include an extension of cuts in output by months, it is premature to decide on what to do beyond March, when the agreement expires, Iraqi oil minister Jabar al-Luaibi told an energy conference in the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday.
While waiting for the U.S. Energy Information Administration to release its weekly report at 10:30AM ET (14:30GMT) Wednesday, U.S. crude futures rose 1.24% to $50.52 by 7:09AM ET (11:09GMT), while Brent oil gained 1.25% to $55.83.