Stock Market News: Dow Set to Open Up
Stock futures gave up early gains and slipped into the red after Iran defied President Donald Trump’s demand that his country surrender in a televised speech.
Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 38 points, or 0.1%. Futures for the S&P 500 slipped less than 0.1%, while the Nasdaq 100 futures were slightly higher. Oil prices, which spiked yesterday, were rising after falling earlier in the day.
Markets retreated Tuesday as Trump sent mixed messages on whether the U.S. would become directly involved in the war as Israel continued to launch strikes on its neighbor. In a social media post, Trump demanded “unconditional surrender and added that Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is an “easy target,” but the U.S. won’t kill him, “at least not yet.”
All three stock indexes finished a little less than 1% lower yesterday.
Investors are all but certain that the Fed will keep interest rates unchanged at today’s meeting, but they’ll be paying close attention to comments from Chair Jerome Powell and the outlook set out in the so-called dot plot of policy makers’ expectations for rates.
The last time that the Fed’s Summary of Economic Projections was updated in March, two quarter-point cuts were anticipated before the end of the year. Expectations may shift to just one reduction at this meeting. The Fed announces its decision and releases the SEP at 2 p.m. Eastern time.
Gold slipped 0.2% to $3,400 an ounce and the U.S. Dollar Index, a gauge of the greenback against a basket of peers, fell 0.1%. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury bond fell to 4.38%.