While stocks ended lower on Tuesday amid concerns over stimulus negotiations, S&P 500 futures are up 0.3% as operators await the latest Fed policy decision.
The central bank is expected to keep interest rates close to zero to support the economy that is still struggling with the coronavirus pandemic, while Jerome Powell will give a press conference at 2:30 pm ET.
It is expected to sound reassuring and perhaps open the door to greater inflation tolerance, although some think it could crush real yields and the dollar, and therefore do not expect any significant policy announcement. On Tuesday, the Fed announced that it would expand all of its emergency loan programs to the rest of 2020.
There is also speculation that the Fed could go on to buy Treasuries at the longest end of the yield curve, but it is unclear how much “gradual increase” it could give the economy and how much lower mortgage rates should go to stimulate the purchase. Ian Lyngen of BMO Capital Markets tells Bloomberg.
Rates are rising further, with the 10-year yield as a basis point up to 0.59%.
The House of Representatives antitrust subcommittee investigates market dominance of online platforms. To testify at the hearing are the CEOs of Big Tech from Amazon, Google, Apple and Facebook.
Those megacaps, in addition to Microsoft, are cautiously higher in the previous market after yesterday’s declines.
Technology in general is also recovering from yesterday, up to 0.6%, before the bell.
There are also ongoing negotiations in Congress on another stimulus package to monitor, with the dispute between Senate Republicans over size and makeup for the plan’s increase.
Golden point (XAUUSD: CUR) and the silver rises again, up to about 0.4%.
