While the monetary policy aspect of Wednesday's Federal Reserve meeting is expected to be routine, markets are bracing for a potentially tense press conference from Chair Jerome Powell as subpoenas and presidential pressure overshadow the proceedings.
The CME Group's FedWatch tool‘s projections show markets pricing a 97.2% likelihood of the Federal Reserve leaving the current interest rates unchanged in January.
Meanwhile, the 10-year Treasury bond yielded 4.24%, and the two-year bond was at 3.57%.
Index
Performance (+/-)
Dow Jones
0.04%
S&P 500
0.30%
Nasdaq 100
0.74%
Russell 2000
0.40%
The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE:SPY) and Invesco QQQ Trust ETF (NASDAQ:QQQ), which track the S&P 500 index and Nasdaq 100 index, respectively, were higher in premarket on Wednesday. The SPY was up 0.33% at $697.77, while the QQQ advanced 0.77% to $635.96.
Stocks In Focus
Starbucks
Starbucks Corp. (NASDAQ:SBUX) was 0.76% lower in premarket on Wednesday as it is projected to post quarterly earnings of 59 cents per share on revenue of $9.73 billion before the opening bell.
SBUX maintains a stronger price trend over the short, medium, and long terms with a poor value ranking, as per Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings.
Microsoft
Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT) rose 0.087% ahead of its earnings scheduled to be released after the closing bell. Analysts expect quarterly earnings of $3.97 per share on revenue of $80.27 billion.
Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings indicate that MSFT maintains a weak price trend in the medium ...
