Stock futures are little changed as investors await Federal Reserve's interest rate decision: Live updates

Stock futures were near the flatline on Tuesday evening as investors turned toward the first Federal Reserve interest rate decision of 2025.

Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average inched down 11 points, or 0.02%. Nasdaq 100 futures were 0.06% higher, while S&P 500 futures were flat.

During regular trading Tuesday, tech stocks led the S&P 500 higher and brought the Nasdaq Composite to a 2% gain. The two indexes made a comeback after incurring sharp losses on Monday in a sell-off spurred by the emergence of China’s DeepSeek and the threat it poses to the artificial intelligence trade. Nvidia, which suffered a roughly 17% decline Monday, jumped nearly 9% on Tuesday.

“As far as the DeepSeek news over the weekend, at the end of the day today, there really hasn’t been that much of an impact on a market-wide basis,” Bespoke Investment Group co-founder Paul Hickey said Tuesday on CNBC’s “Closing Bell: Overtime.”

The Fed’s interest rate decision on Wednesday is now a focal point for investors, as well as Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s press conference. Fed funds futures data reflect a nearly 100% certainty that the central bank will keep rates steady at a target range of 4.25% to 4.50%, according to CME Group data.

“When it comes to the Fed, they’re widely not expected to do anything tomorrow and that’s a good thing. The less the Fed has to do, the better it is for the market, in our view,” Hickey added.

Investors will be paying especially close attention to Powell’s comments — his first press conference in President Donald Trump’s second term. The two have had a contentious relationship dating back to Trump’s first term. The president has already said he would “demand that interest rates drop immediately.”

Japan and Aussie stocks rise as Wall Street stages a sharp recovery; most Asia markets closed for holiday

Japan and Australian stocks rose Wednesday as Wall Street rebounded overnight, while several Asia-Pacific markets were closed for the Lunar New Year holiday.

Japan benchmark Nikkei 225 ended the day up 1.02% at 39,414.78, while the Topix advanced 0.68% to close at 2,775.59.

Minutes from the Bank of Japan’s December meeting released Wednesday showed members discussed neutral interest rates. The BOJ has been debating how far borrowing costs should be raised as inflation remains above its 2% target while wage hikes broaden due to labor shortages.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.57% to close at its highest since Dec. 5 at 8,447.

The country’s inflation rose 0.2% in the December quarter and 2.4% annually, below the 2.5% estimated by economists polled by Reuters, data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed.

— Amala Balakrishner

Broad indexes would suffer in 2025 if tech falters, but average stock hold up, Capital Economics says

Broad stock market indexes would suffer in 2025 if Big Tech leaders continue to falter but the average stock is likely to “hold up well,” according to Capital Economics senior markets economist James Reilly.

Although the S&P 500 Information Technology Index slid 5.5% Monday, its largest one-day decline since 2020, “the losses were largely confined to firms that had been expected to play a key role in facilitating AI, including semiconductor firms and utilities firms powering data centers,” London-based Capital Economics said, noting the S&P 500 only fell 1.5% and roughly 70% of companies in the index rose.

One possibility is that investors will start to favor more of the users of artificial intelligence and fewer of the “enablers,” which may have already begun before Monday, Reilly wrote. “In this scenario, the S&P 500 could rally further even as sentiment towards these prior favorites cooled. Indeed, something similar happened during the dotcom bubble — there was a rotation within the I.T. sector (from the largest firms) around 1999/2000 that didn’t undermine the S&P 500 index.”

Strangely, the large share of the market accounted for by the 10 biggest stocks offers some hope. “That might mean that the losses as these gains unwound would be similarly concentrated, affording plenty of scope for the average firm in the S&P 500 to do well if the economic backdrop stayed positive, as we expect,” Reilly noted.

— Scott Schnipper

Stocks making the biggest moves after hours

Check out some of the companies making headlines in extended trading:

• Starbucks — The coffee chain gained more than 2% after better-than-expected quarterly results. Starbucks notched fiscal first-quarter earnings of 69 cents per share on revenue of $9.40 billion, while analysts polled by LSEG were looking for 67 cents in earnings per share and $9.31 billion in revenue. Same-store sales declined for the fourth consecutive quarter, however.
• F5 — The application security company surged 12% after the firm issued a better-than-expected revenue outlook for the second quarter. F5 forecasts revenue in the current quarter to be in the range between $705 million and $725 million, while analysts polled by FactSet were expecting $702.7 million.
• Qorvo — The semiconductor company gained 12% on the heels of an upbeat fourth-quarter outlook. Qorvo expects revenue in the current quarter of $850 million, compared to a forecast of $841 million from analysts polled by LSEG. The company’s adjusted earnings per share forecast of $1 was also above estimates that called for 86 cents per share.

Read the full list here.

— Brian Evans

Stock futures open lower

Stock futures were marginally lower on Tuesday as investors look toward the first Federal Reserve interest rate decision of 2025.

Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average ticked down 23 points, or 0.05%. Nasdaq 100 futures pulled back 0.1% alongside S&P 500 futures.

— Brian Evans