U.S. stock futures traded mixed early Wednesday as oil prices surged following an Iranian missile strike on American forces in the Middle East, with investors also watching for the Federal Reserve's interest rate decision later in the day.
West Texas Intermediate crude surged as the Federal Reserve prepared to announce its interest rate decision Wednesday afternoon
Andrew Harnik / Getty Images
U.S. stock futures traded mixed early Wednesday as oil prices surged following an Iranian missile strike on American forces in the Middle East, with investors also watching for the Federal Reserve's interest rate decision later in the day.
West Texas Intermediate crude futures jumped 4.7% to approximately $82.93 a barrel after U.S. Central Command announced via social media that Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps forces had fired multiple ballistic missiles at American troops stationed in the region in what officials described as an attempted surprise attack. Central Command confirmed that its forces managed to shoot down all incoming missiles. Brent crude futures climbed more than 3% to $85.75 a barrel.
S&P 500 and Nasdaq $NDAQ-100 futures were both up 0.2%, whereas Dow Jones Industrial Average futures slipped 106 points, equivalent to a 0.2% decline. The attack came as negotiations to reopen the Strait of Hormuz were gaining momentum, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The Federal Reserve is set to announce its rate decision Wednesday afternoon, followed by a press conference with Fed Chair Kevin Warsh. According to CME $CME Group's FedWatch tool, the probability that the central bank leaves its benchmark rate unchanged within the 3.5%–3.75% target range stands at close to 70%. The prospect of a hike stands at just under 30%.
"We continue to believe markets are placing too much weight on inflation risk and too little weight on the economic consequences of further tightening," Julia Hermann, global market strategist at New York Life Investment Management, told CNBC. "A more hawkish communication stance would likely test today's narrow market leadership more than the broader market."
In Asia, South Korea's Kospi shed 6% after memory-chip maker SK Hynix posted results that disappointed investors, dragging its Seoul-listed shares down by nearly 10%. The company's U.S.-listed shares fell about 2.1% in premarket trading. Tokyo's Nikkei 225 lost 1.49% on the day, whereas Australia's S&P/ASX 200 managed to finish more than 1% in the green.
European markets struggled as well, with the broad Stoxx 600 off 0.2%. France's CAC 40, Germany's DAX, and Italy's FTSE MIB each declined, though the U.K.'s FTSE 100 bucked the trend, bolstered by its heavy exposure to major energy companies.
Tuesday's session saw the Dow Jones Industrial Average surge more than 500 points to extend its winning run to three days, even as the Nasdaq Composite notched a fifth straight losing session under pressure from semiconductor names. Tuesday marked the VanEck Semiconductor ETF's fourth consecutive down day, with a 3.5% decline that pushed its cumulative loss over the trailing week past the 9% mark.
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