Investing.com – U.S. futures pointed to a flat open on Wall Street Thursday as investors digested the Federal Reserve’s interest rate statement and waited for a flurry of economic data.
The S&P 500 futures rose 4 points or 0.15% to 2,915.75 as of 6:50 AM ET (10:50 GMT) while Dow futures gained 28 points, or 0.11%, to 26,447.0. Meanwhile tech heavy Nasdaq 100 futures increased 22 points, or 0.30%, to 7,613.0.
The Fed raised interest rates by a quarter point to 2.25%, its third rate hike this year and its eighth since 2015.
In its statement, the central bank said it expected to increase rates for a fourth time in December, with three hikes in 2019 and one in 2020.
However the Fed dropped the word "accommodative" to describe its monetary policy stance from its statement, leading some investors to speculate that it could be moving towards ending monetary tightening.
Technology stocks were among the biggest movers in premarket trading, with Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) gaining 0.27%, Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) up 0.18% and Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) increasing 0.30%.
Meanwhile, Top Ships Inc (NASDAQ:TOPS) surged 3.60% while Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) jumped 1.10%.
Elsewhere, semiconductor Micron Technology Inc (NASDAQ:MU) slipped 0.23% while Chinese e-commerce site Jd.Com Inc Adr (NASDAQ:JD) inched down 0.04%.
In economic news, second-quarter final GDP numbers are released at 8:30 AM ET (12:30 GMT) along with durable goods and jobless claims numbers. Pending home sales numbers for August are expected at 10:00 AM ET (14:00 GMT).
In Europe stocks were mixed. Germany’s DAX fell 35 points or 0.28% while in France the CAC 40 was down 8 points or 0.15% and in London the FTSE 100 increased 14 points or 0.19%. Meanwhile the pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 lost 7 points or 0.21% while Spain’s IBEX 35 slumped 57 points or 0.61%.
In commodities, gold futures inched up 0.03% to $1,199.50 a troy ounce while crude oil futures increased 1.10% to $72.36 a barrel. The U.S. dollar index which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, rose 0.26% to 94.12.