US pre-open: Stocks seen muted ahead of Fed rate announcement
US stocks looked set for a muted open on Monday as investors erred on the side of caution ahead of the Federal Reserve rate announcement mid-week.
At 1100 GMT, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were flat, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq futures were down 0.1%.
Meanwhile, oil prices ticked lower after data from Baker Hughes on Friday showed the number of active rigs drilling for oil rose by eight to 617 last week, marking the eighth weekly rise. West Texas Intermediate was down 0.9% to $48.05 a barrel and Brent crude was off 0.8% at $50.99.
In currency markets, the dollar was down 0.4% against the pound and 0.2% against the yen, but flat versus the euro.
The Fed's two-day policy meeting kicks off on Tuesday, amid expectations it will raise the funds rate by 25 basis points to between 0.75% and 1.00%.
Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior market analyst at London Capital Group, said: "Although the Fed rate hike is priced in at 100%, the Fed watchers will be focused on the dot plot to catch any hints regarding the future of the Fed policy.
The Fed could steepen the rate normalisation in 2017 and hike rates more than three times as anticipated until the beginning of March. The consensus shifts toward an overall 100 basis points hike via four actions in 2017. If the Fed’s accompanying statement is sufficiently hawkish, the US dollar could take another ride on the upside. According to the latest CFTC data, the net speculative USD long positions surged to the highest level since February."
Also this week, rate announcements are due from the Bank of Japan, the Bank of England and the Turkish central bank.
In corporate news, US-listed shares of HSBC Holdings could be active as it has hired ex-Prudential boss Mark Tucker to replace Douglas Flint as chairman after 22 years at the world's fourth largest bank.
Intel was also likely to be in focus following reports the chip giant has agreed to buy Israeli technology group Mobileye for $14bn to $15bn. Mobileye shares rocketed 35% in pre-market trade.