US pre-open: Futures in the red following Fed decision
Wall Street futures were pointing to losses ahead of the bell on Thursday as investors digested the Federal Reserve's interest rate decision and news out of Russia and Ukraine.
As of 1220 GMT, Dow Jones futures were down 0.38%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures had the indices opening 0.43% and 0.57% softer, respectively.
The Dow closed 518.76 points higher on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve raised its benchmark lending rate target by 25 basis points after its two-day policy meeting, making for the first rate hike in four years.
The Fed decision was still in focus ahead of the bell, given that it marked a significant shift away from two years of accommodative policy, due to inflation running at 40-year highs and many economies facing a cost-of-living crisis.
Looking ahead, the central bank said it now sees its main policy rate reaching 1.9% by the end of 2022, before increasing to 2.8% next year, with the bank’s number-crunching suggesting that was the level where interest would begin putting the kibosh on economic growth.
Also in focus ahead of the bell were comments from Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, who said a Financial Times report of "substantial progress" being made in talks between Kyiv and Moscow were "wrong". Although negotiations were set to continue on Thursday, Peskov blamed Ukraine for dragging its feet, claiming that Kyiv was "in no rush" to reach an agreement.
"For all the talk about wanting to find a diplomatic path forward, we haven't seen them act on that," said Pentagon spokesman John Kirby. "What you're seeing by the Russians on the ground is a full-on commitment to military operations."
On Wednesday, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky told NBC News that talks with Moscow were ongoing but "fairly difficult".
Elsewhere, Russia's finance ministry has reportedly sent an order to Citibank’s London branch to make $117.0m in interest payments on two dollar bonds that were due on Wednesday, as it looks to avoid its first default on foreign debt since 1918. It was not made clear as to whether the payment was made in dollars or roubles.
On the macro front, this week's jobless claims data will be published at 1230 GMT, as will February housing starts and building permits data and March's Philadelphia Fed manufacturing index, while February industrial production figures will follow at 1315 GMT.
In the corporate space, Dollar General shares were in the green before the open despite posting a wider than expected drop in same-store sales but issued an upbeat full-year outlook, while GameStop and FedEx will publish after the close.