U.S. stock futures are in the red on Wednesday evening after the Federal Reserve decided to leave interest rates unchanged during its January FOMC meeting. The tech earnings cycle was off to a mixed start, led by Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ:META).
The S&P 500 Futures are down 0.26%, or 18 points, trading at 6,989.00, followed by Nasdaq Futures at 26,098.50, down 0.22%, or 55.75 points and finally Dow Futures, trading at 49,025.00, down 142 points, or 0.29%, on late Wednesday evening.
This comes amid the latest escalation of tensions in the Middle East, with President Donald Trump urging Iranian leaders to “quickly ‘come to the table’ and negotiate a fair and equitable deal” over the country’s nuclear program. He also warned that the “next attack will be far worse” if Iran refuses to engage.
On the earnings front, Microsoft shares are down 6% after hours despite beating consensus estimates, while Meta Platforms rallied following its strong fourth-quarter performance, marking a fairly mixed start to the tech earnings cycle.
Crude oil prices are inching up, with WTI March futures trading at $63.57 a barrel, up 0.52%, with the commodity rallying 7.26% so far this week. Natural gas March futures are up 0.94%, trading at $3.748 per MMBtu or Metric Million British Thermal Units.
Asian markets opened higher on Thursday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 up 0.17%, or 90 points, trading at 53,449.08, with engineering, mining and automotive stocks leading the rally.
Precious metals continued to rally, with gold spot prices setting a new record high by soaring past $5,500 an ounce, its biggest single-day rally against the U.S. Dollar. This comes despite the Federal Reserve’s decision to keep interest rates unchanged during the FOMC meeting on Wednesday.
Spot silver prices similarly touched a new all-time high above $117 per ounce on Wednesday, with year-to-date gains of over 60%.
The U.S. Dollar Index (DXY) extended its decline, down 0.04%, trading at 96.287 after Trump brushed aside the greenback’s slide to four-year lows, signaling tolerance for currency weakness.
On Thursday, investors will be looking forward to the earnings of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), Visa Inc. (NYSE:V), Mastercard Inc. (NYSE:MA) and Lockheed Martin Corp. (NYSE:LMT), among others.
The markets will also be watching the Producer Price Index reports, followed by the speeches of St. Louis Fed President Alberto Musalem and Fed Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman.
Photo: mukul126 / Shutterstock
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