US pre-open: Stocks trade higher ahead of FOMC decision

Wall Street futures were in the green ahead of the bell on Wednesday as investors braced for another busy day for earnings and awaited the outcome of the Federal Reserve's latest policy meeting.

As of 1210 BST, Dow Jones futures were up 0.43%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures had the indices opening 0.88% and 1.48% higher, respectively.

The Dow closed 228.50 points lower on Tuesday as market participants worked their way through a hefty slab of corporate earnings.

Earnings will again be in focus on Wednesday, with Bristol-Myers Squibb, Kraft Heinz, and T-Mobile all scheduled to report before the open, while Ford, Hilton Worldwide, and Boeing will report later in the day, and Facebook parent company Meta Platforms, Qualcomm and Etsy will publish their latest set of quarterly earnings after the close.

The Federal Reserve will also draw a considerable amount of investor attention on Wednesday after the central bank kicked off its two-day policy meeting on Tuesday. Economists expect the Fed to announce a three-quarter percentage point interest rate hike at 1900 BST and will also look for clues on future interest rate movements at the bank's press conference at 1930 BST.

Elsewhere on the macro front, mortgage applications fell 1.80% on a seasonally adjusted basis in the week ended 22 July, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association of America, with the refinance index decreasing 4% week-on-week and the purchase index slipping 1% on the prior seven-day stretch.

Still to come, June durable goods orders and retail inventories will be published at 1330 BST, as will an advance reading of last month's goods trade balance, while June pending home sales data will follow at 1500 BST.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com