{"id":48160,"date":"2026-03-18T11:35:18","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T11:35:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quickassetsmarket.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/18\/dow-futures-soar-ahead-of-fed-decision-5-things-before-market-open\/"},"modified":"2026-03-18T11:35:18","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T11:35:18","slug":"dow-futures-soar-ahead-of-fed-decision-5-things-before-market-open","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quickassetsmarket.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/18\/dow-futures-soar-ahead-of-fed-decision-5-things-before-market-open\/","title":{"rendered":"Dow futures soar ahead of Fed decision: 5 things before market open"},"content":{"rendered":"
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US stock futures edged higher on Wednesday as investors turned a bit optimistic with reducing oil prices ahead of the Federal Reserve rate decision today.<\/p>\n

Futures linked to the Dow Jones Industrial Average were up about 240 points, or 0.5%. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures also gained roughly 0.5% and 0.7%.<\/p>\n

This comes after a relatively steady Tuesday session<\/a>, where the Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq finished higher.<\/p>\n

5 things to know before Wall Street opens<\/h2>\n

1.<\/strong> The looming Federal Reserve rate decision is all set to be the highlight of the day.<\/p>\n

Most expect the central bank to keep rates steady in the 3.5% to 3.75% range, as it takes a wait-and-see approach on inflation and economic growth.<\/p>\n

The bigger focus is on what Fed Chair Jerome Powell says next.<\/p>\n

With oil prices still volatile, traders will be listening closely for any hints on whether rising energy costs could complicate the Fed\u2019s plans and influence future policy moves.<\/p>\n

2.<\/strong> Things are finally going back to normal for the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which is set to release February\u2019s Producer Price Index on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

The print is running into delays due to multiple government shutdowns, and Wednesday’s numbers are coming less than three weeks after the January report.<\/p>\n

Investors will be paying close attention to whether producer prices keep cooling or start picking up again, especially in areas like energy, goods, and supply chains.<\/p>\n

3. <\/strong>Wednesday is set to be a big day on earnings fronts as memory giant Micron is all set to post its latest quarterly earnings after the closing bell.<\/p>\n

The chipmaker has been one of the standout performers this year, with its stock surging nearly 62%.<\/p>\n

That rally has largely been fueled by booming demand for high-bandwidth memory, a key component powering AI systems and data centers.<\/p>\n

Investors will be watching closely to see if Micron can maintain that momentum, especially as expectations are already high.<\/p>\n

4. <\/strong>Mortgage rates climbed sharply last week, hitting their highest level since late last year and quickly cooling the refinance momentum that had been building earlier in 2026.<\/p>\n

As a result, overall mortgage application activity dropped 10.9% from the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association\u2019s seasonally adjusted index.<\/p>\n

The average rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage with conforming loan balances rose to 6.30% from 6.19%.<\/p>\n

5. <\/strong>The investors across the globe are waiting for the Federal Reserve decision on Wednesday, and the markets in Europe traded on a muted note while Asian stocks closed mixed.<\/p>\n

The FTSE 100 was largely flat, while Germany\u2019s DAX and France\u2019s CAC 40 were seen gaining around 0.6%.<\/p>\n

In Asia<\/a>, tech and auto stocks got a boost after Nvidia\u2019s strong outlook, helping South Korea and Hong Kong Japan closing higher while mainland China slipped.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The post Dow futures soar ahead of Fed decision: 5 things before market open<\/a> appeared first on Invezz<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

US stock futures edged higher on Wednesday as investors turned a bit optimistic with reducing oil prices ahead of the Federal Reserve rate decision today. Futures linked to the Dow Jones Industrial Average were up about 240 points, or 0.5%. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures also gained roughly 0.5% and 0.7%. This comes <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":48161,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-48160","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-investing"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quickassetsmarket.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48160","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quickassetsmarket.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quickassetsmarket.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quickassetsmarket.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quickassetsmarket.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48160"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quickassetsmarket.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48160\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quickassetsmarket.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quickassetsmarket.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quickassetsmarket.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quickassetsmarket.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}