Proactive Investors - FTSE 100 seen little changed after mixed tech earnings, ahead of US rate call.
The FTSE 100 is expected to open marginally higher on Wednesday as the market awaits the interest rate decision and commentary from the US Federal Reserve.
Spread betting companies are calling London's blue-chip index up by around 3 points after closing up 0.4% at 7,666.31 on Tuesday.
In the US, markets closed mixed with losses for the Nasdaq and S&P 500 but a gain for the Dow Jones.
After London's close today, the US central bank is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged with the focus squarely on comments by Fed chair Jerome Powell on the timing of any future rate cuts.
Roman Ziruk at global financial services firm Ebury thinks the Fed will use Wednesday’s policy meeting to "strike a slightly less dovish tone."
"The Fed will likely make a hawkish comment on the excessiveness of market expectations for rate cuts in March, especially in the context of recent economic data which points to rather strong US consumer demand and a tight labour market," he said.
"We have seen an upwards surprise in both US retail sales and GDP growth recently, so I would not be surprised if the Fed incorporated this into their communications," he added.
After Tuesday's close in New York earnings from Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and AMD (NASDAQ:AMD) failed to spark further gains in share prices with Alphabet down 5.2% and AMD losing 6.5%. Microsoft fared better, down 0.3%.
Ipek Ozkardeskaya at Swissquote Bank said: "Anything less than mind-blowing is weak at the current valuations. Therefore, profit taking in Microsoft and elsewhere is perhaps on today’s menu."
Back in London, and an update from GSK (LON:GSK) will be the main early focus.