Investing.com – U.S. futures were mixed on Wednesday, as the Federal Reserve wraps up its two-day policy meeting and earnings season continues.
The S&P 500 futures fell one and a half points or 0.05% to 2,815.50 as of 6:45 AM ET (10:45 GMT) while Dow futures were down 34 points or 0.13% to 25,361.0. Meanwhile tech heavy Nasdaq 100 futures increased 15 points or 0.21% to 7,260.25.
The Fed is expected to keep rates unchanged at its policy meeting on Wednesday, with a decision and statement released at 2:00 PM ET (18:00 GMT). Economic growth has left the central bank on track to raise interest rates at least twice this year, with investors expecting the Fed to raise rates in September.
Trade uncertainty continued to weigh on investors minds after conflicting reports. A Bloomberg article on Tuesday said the U.S. and China are seeking to resume trade talks, while a separate report said that the White House plans to propose 25% instead of 10% on $200 billion of imported Chinese goods.
Traders are also looking ahead to earnings results from Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) after the closing bell. The luxury car company was up 0.62% in pre-market trading amid reports that it plans to invest $5 billion in a factory in China.
Other companies expected to release their earnings include Sprint Corp (NYSE:S), T-Mobile US Inc (NASDAQ:TMUS), Fitbit Inc (NYSE:FIT) and AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc (NYSE:AMC).
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) was among the top gainers in pre-market trading, surging 3.76% after reporting higher than expected earnings results. Meanwhile Dropbox Inc (NASDAQ:DBX) rose 2.17% while Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) gained 0.32% and Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) rose 0.76%.
Elsewhere Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) fell 0.21% while Jd.Com Inc Adr (NASDAQ:JD) decreased 0.45%.
On the data front, ADP employment figures come out at 8:15 AM ET (12:15 GMT) and ISM manufacturing data and construction spending are released at 10:00 AM ET (14:00 GMT).
In Europe stocks were down. Germany’s DAX fell 34 points or 0.27% while in France the CAC 40 decreased three points points or 0.06% and in London, the FTSE 100 was down 86 points or 1.11%. Meanwhile the pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 lost 11 points or 0.32% while Spain’s IBEX 35 slumped 45 points or 0.46%.
In commodities, gold futures fell 0.05% to $1,223.10 a troy ounce while crude oil futures were down 1.03% to $68.05 a barrel. The U.S. dollar index which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, was up 0.08% to 94.41.