Kevin Warsh, chairman of the US Federal Reserve nominee for US President Donald Trump, is sworn in during a Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee confirmation hearing on April 21, 2026 in Washington, DC. (Chen Mengtong/China News Service/VCG via Getty Images)
U.S. stock futures rose slightly Wednesday morning as investors looked ahead to the Federal Reserve's first interest rate decision under new Chairman Kevin Warsh, with technology stocks leading the way higher.
The S&P 500 futures index was up 0.1%, while Nasdaq $NDAQ 100 contracts added 0.6%. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures fell marginally. The Fed is set to announce its policy decision at 2 p.m., followed by a news conference with Warsh at 2:30 p.m.
A rate hold at 3.5% to 3.75% is the broadly anticipated outcome from Wednesday's meeting. The prevailing expectation among Wall Street's Fed analysts is that Warsh will sit out the FOMC's dot-plot submission, which tracks where individual policymakers see rates going. Separately, conversation at the central bank has been turning toward rate hikes rather than cuts, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Shares of SpaceX climbed 3.5% before the opening bell Wednesday. Since pricing its IPO at $135 last week, the Elon Musk rocket company has surged approximately 50%, a run that has lifted its market capitalization past Amazon $AMZN's. Among semiconductor names, ASML $ASML added 4% and Intel $INTC was up 3%, helping push the Invesco PHLX Semiconductor ETF 2.3% higher.
At around $79 a barrel, Brent crude was trading at its lowest point since the opening phase of the Iran war. Oil prices had been pressured lower by a potential U.S.-Iran deal to end the conflict. On Wednesday, Trump walked back expectations of a done deal, warning that airstrikes could resume if the terms proved unsatisfactory to him — a comment that nudged oil prices back up. The International Energy Agency cautioned that a ceasefire alone would not quickly restore supply, with a recovery in Iranian oil exports and output likely taking months.
Tuesday's session was uneven: the Dow Jones Industrial Average notched a new milestone by crossing 52,000 for the first time, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq both declined. Global markets were broadly constructive. In Asia, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 hit a new record, finishing up 0.72%, while Seoul's Kospi gained 1.58% and the CSI 300 in mainland China rose close to 1%; Hong Kong bucked the trend, with the Hang Seng slipping 0.7%. The pan-European Stoxx 600 added 0.3%.
