By Peter Nurse
Investing.com -- U.S. stocks are seen opening marginally higher Wednesday, bouncing after the previous session’s losses, as investors await another jumbo interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve and clues to the future path of monetary tightening.
At 07:00 ET (11:00 GMT), the Dow Futures contract was up 100 points, or 0.3%, S&P 500 Futures traded 10 points, or 0.3% higher, and Nasdaq 100 Futures climbed 10 points, or 0.1%.
The major equity averages closed lower Tuesday on the first day of the Fed’s two-day policy meeting, with the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average dropping over 300 points, or 1%, the broad-based S&P 500 falling 1.1%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite ending down 1%.
The U.S. central bank is widely expected, at 14:00 ET (18:00 GMT), to lift interest rates by 75 basis points for a third straight time, and investors will also be looking for the policymakers to signal how much further and how fast borrowing costs may need to rise to tame inflation near 40-year highs.
“The release of the Fed’s ‘dot plot’ will be key in determining the market reaction on Wednesday, with investors to pay close attention to the median dot for 2022, and the bank’s expectation for the terminal rate,” said Matthew Ryan, head of market strategy at Ebury. “We expect both to be shifted relatively markedly higher.”
Away from the Fed, investors will also be keeping an eye on events in eastern Europe, after Russian President Vladimir Putin declared a partial mobilization of the country's military reserve and confirmed his intention to annex those parts of Ukraine currently under Russian occupation.
In the corporate sector, Stitch Fix (NASDAQ:SFIX) stock slumped almost 5% premarket after the online personal styling service reported disappointing quarterly results and an underwhelming outlook, suggesting the weaker macroeconomic environment is holding back discretionary spending.
Earnings are expected from the likes of packaged food company General Mills (NYSE:GIS) and home builder Lennar Corporation (NYSE:LEN), while economic data will center around existing home sales for August.
Oil prices soared Wednesday, bouncing after the previous session’s losses, after Putin’s move raised fears of a further curbing of energy supply from Russia.
U.S. crude stocks rose by about 1 million barrels last week, data from the American Petroleum Institute showed on Tuesday, indicating some weakness in demand among U.S. consumers. Official data from the Energy Information Administration are due later in the session.
By 07:00 ET, U.S. crude futures traded 3% higher at $86.44 a barrel, while the Brent contract rose 2.9% to $93.20. Both contracts fell more than 1% on Tuesday, and are on track for the first quarterly loss in more than two years.
Additionally, gold futures rose 0.7% to $1,682.75/oz, while EUR/USD traded 0.5% lower at 0.9922.