(Reuters) – U.S. stock index futures ticked lower on Wednesday as investors awaited the conclusion of the Federal Reserve’s meeting where the central bank is expected to keep borrowing costs unchanged and provide cues on its monetary policy trajectory.
The U.S. central bankers conclude their two-day meeting later in the day. Focus will be on the Fed’s policy statement, updated economic projections and Chair Jerome Powell’s press conference.
Wall Street rallied to all-time highs this month supported by optimism around artificial intelligence, but has since retreated a little after reports showing robust inflation dampened hopes of the Fed kicking off its interest rate-easing cycle soon.
Traders pulled back bets for a June rate cut to 64% from 71% at the start of last week, according to CME FedWatch data.
“Given the recent uptick in inflation, strong economic growth, healthy jobs market and robust earnings, we could see some Fed members plot fewer rate cuts for the year … could tilt the median forecast to two rate cuts this year from three plotted in December,” said Ipek Ozkardeskaya, a senior market analyst at Swissquote Bank.
At 05:08 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 16 points, or 0.04%, S&P 500 e-minis were down 6.75 points, or 0.13%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 28.75 points, or 0.16%.
Most megacap growth stocks inched lower in premarket trading, while Tesla gained 0.7% after confirming to Reuters it will raise the price of China-produced Model Y vehicles by 5,000 yuan ($694.55) from April 1.
Nvidia, the chipmaker at the center of Wall Street’s AI euphoria, dipped 0.5% after closing higher in the previous session on revealing pricing and shipment plans for its hotly anticipated Blackwell B200 chip.
The Biden administration said it is awarding Intel nearly $20 billion in grants and loans, lifting shares of the chipmaker up 2.9%.
Nasdaq’s shares fell 3.9% after the exchange operator said Borse Dubai will sell shares worth $1.6 billion in the company, reducing its stake to 10.8% from 15.5%.
Wells Fargo shed 1.2% after Citi downgraded its rating on the lender to “neutral” from “buy”.
(Reporting by Bansari Mayur Kamdar in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)
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