Investing.com – U.S. futures point to higher opening bell ahead of an interest rate decision by the Federal Reserve.
The S&P 500 futures was up four points or 0.14% to 2,792.25 as of 6:45 AM ET (10:45 GMT) while Dow futures increased 29 points or 0.11% to 25,344.0. Meanwhile tech heavy Nasdaq 100 futures rose 19 points or 0.26% to 7,245.25.
The Federal Reserve is expected to raise interest rates at 2:00 PM ET (18:00 GMT). With the rate hike almost fully priced in, investors will closely pour over the Fed’s forecasts for interest rates, known as the “dot-plot” for signs of more interest rate hikes.
The expectation of four rate hikes rather than three has increased amid rising inflation and a strengthening economy.
Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) was among the top gainers in pre-market trading, surging 1.14% after Goldman increased its price target while Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) rose 0.51% while Time Warner Inc (NYSE:TWX) surged 4.66% after a judge ruled in favor of its merger with AT&T (NYSE:T), which was down 2.07%.
Elsewhere H&R Block (NYSE:HRB) fell 19.09% after it said it expects its margins to shrink while Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) dipped 0.66%.
In economic news, the producer price index is released at 8:30 AM ET (12:30 GMT).
In Europe stocks were mostly up. Germany’s DAX rose 20 points or 0.16% while in France the CAC 40 increased 15 points or 0.28% and in London, the FTSE 100 was up 28 points or 0.37%. Meanwhile the pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 gained eight points or 0.24% while Spain’s IBEX 35 inched down six points or 0.07%.
In commodities, gold futures were down 0.10% to $1,298.10 a troy ounce while crude oil futures fell 0.17% to $66.25 a barrel. The U.S. dollar index which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, was down 0.07% to 93.76.