Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange during morning trading on April 29, 2024 in New York City.
Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images News | Getty Images
S&P 500 futures fell Tuesday night as investors eyed the Federal Reserve’s interest rate policy decision.
Futures tracking the broader market index fell 0.26%, while Nasdaq 100 futures fell 0.50%. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures fell 16 points, or 0.04%.
Amazon rose more than 2% in after-hours trading after reporting better-than-expected first-quarter profits and sales. Chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices fell 7.5% after reporting current-quarter inline sales forecasts, while Super Micro Computers fell 11.4% as sales fell slightly below Street consensus estimates. did.
In Tuesday’s main trading session, the Dow and S&P 500 both fell more than 1%. The Nasdaq Composite Index, which is heavy on tech stocks, fell 2%. Bond yields soared after a better-than-expected first-quarter employment cost index, reigniting concerns that the Federal Reserve will keep interest rates high.
In April, all three major averages ended the month with poor results, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq posting losses of more than 4%. The Dow fell 5%, its worst monthly performance since September 2022.
Traders are now focused on the Fed’s interest rate decision on Wednesday afternoon. The central bank is widely expected to keep interest rates on hold, according to federal funds futures price data, and Wall Street will be looking for clues from Fed Chair Jerome Powell on what needs to happen before cutting rates.
“The concern is that the Fed is definitely going to delay lowering rates,” said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA. “They recognize that inflation is still quite sticky. I think they want to take more of a ‘wait and see’ approach and wait for inflation to start coming down again.”
Several notable earnings reports are also expected to be released on Wednesday. Pfizer, Kraft Heinz and CVS Health are reporting quarterly results before the bell. Qualcomm and DoorDash are expected to report Wednesday afternoon.
