Traders work after a Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on Wednesday, June 17, 2026, in New York, USA.
Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Getty Images
U.S. stock futures rose on Wednesday night after the Federal Reserve signaled the possibility of raising interest rates this year.
S&P500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures They rose by 0.2% and 0.4%, respectively. Futures linked to the Dow Jones Industrial Average It rose by 73 points, or just over 0.1%.
The Asia-Pacific market is expected to get off to a mixed start. Japanese Nikkei Stock Average Chicago futures were set to jump to 70,825 and Osaka futures to 69,980, compared to the index’s previous closing price of 69,902.25.
hong kong Hang Seng Index Futures closed at 24,200, below the index’s closing price of 24,312.16. australian futures S&P/ASX 200 8,909 and the index closed at 8,966.3.
Wednesday marked the first Federal Reserve Board meeting with Kevin Warsh, who leads the U.S. central bank. At the end of the meeting, the Fed held its benchmark federal funds rate unchanged, at a range of 3.5% to 3.75%.
The policymakers’ “dot plot” reveals that multiple Fed officials now expect interest rates to rise in 2026. The median forecast for year-end interest rates is now 3.8%, up from an earlier forecast of 3.4% in March, suggesting at least one rate hike could be on the horizon in 2026.
Complicating the forecast was Mr. Warsh’s decision to refrain from providing interest rate forecasts.
After the meeting, stock prices fell across the board. of Dowhad hit a new intraday high earlier in the day, but ended up falling 507.12 points (0.98%). of S&P500 fell by 1.21%. Nasdaq Composite It fell by 1.34%.
Meanwhile, bond yields soared. of 2 years treasury The yield hit a record high of 4.22%.
“The Fed kept rates on hold, but they spoiled the mood with a much more hawkish dot plot,” said Sonu Varghese, chief macro strategist at Carson Group. “Higher inflation is understandable, but the committee is far from united, with only about half planning to raise rates this year.” “The bigger point is that policy remains lax in an economy where inflation remains a problem and the labor market is stabilizing.”
“Markets don’t like regime change,” David Zervos, chief market strategist at Jefferies, added on CNBC’s “Closing Bell: Overtime” Wednesday afternoon.
Accenture and kroger It plans to report earnings before the opening bell on Thursday. Traders will also be keeping an eye on the number of new jobless claims for the week ending June 13, as well as the performance of leading indicators for May and the Philadelphia Fed Index for June.
