Stocks- U.S. Futures Flat as FOMC Meeting Begins
Investing.com – U.S. futures pointed to a slightly higher opening bell on Tuesday as investors wait for trade developments and the Federal Reserve begins its two-day policy meeting.
The S&P 500 futures rose 7 points or 0.25% to 2,932.75 as of 6:50 AM ET (10:50 GMT) while Dow futures gained 76 points, or 0.29%, to 26,686.0. Meanwhile tech heavy Nasdaq 100 futures increased 10 points, or 0.14%, to 7,596.25.
U.S. trade representatives and Japan’s economy minister meet for a second round of trade talks that were postponed from Monday. The talks are ahead of a meeting between Trump and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Wednesday at the UN General Assembly.
Japan wants to stop import tariffs on its cars and fend off U.S. demands for a free-trade agreement. The country is considering lowering tariffs on U.S. agriculture in exchange for avoiding higher auto tariffs.
In other news, the Federal Reserve begins its monetary policy meeting and is expected to increase interest rates at its press conference on Wednesday.
Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) was down 2.85% in premarket trading after news that Instagram co-founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger resigned.
Elsewhere social media site Snap Inc (NYSE:SNAP) rose 3.35% after news that it was partnering with Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) while Chinese e-commerce site Jd.Com Inc Adr (NASDAQ:JD) increased 1.59% and Barrick Gold Corporation (NYSE:ABX) jumped 3.99%.
In economic news, consumer confidence for September is released at 10:00 AM ET (14:00 GMT).
In Europe stocks were up. Germany’s DAX rose 40 points or 0.32% while in France the CAC 40 was up 18 points or 0.34% and in London the FTSE 100 increased 35 points or 0.48%. Meanwhile the pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 gained 13 points or 0.39% while Spain’s IBEX 35 inched up 23 points or 0.25%.
In commodities, gold futures inched up 0.02% to $1,204.70 a troy ounce while crude oil futures surged 0.65% to $72.55 a barrel. The U.S. dollar index which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, fell 0.09% to 93.77.
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