Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.
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S&P500 and Nasdaq 100 futures While stocks rose in early trading on Wednesday as traders awaited the latest monetary policy decisions from the U.S. Federal Reserve, SpaceX was on track to rise again.
Futures tied to broad market indexes rose 0.1%, while contracts tied to the tech-heavy Nasdaq rose 0.6%. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures fell slightly.
SpaceX traded 3.5% higher in the premarket. Shares have soared since the rocket company’s initial public offering last week at a price of $135. In this short period of time, the stock price has increased by about 50%, putting the company’s valuation above Amazon’s.
Semiconductor stocks also rose in early trading, with ASML up 4% and Intel up 3%. Invesco PHLX Semiconductor ETF (SOXQ) rose 2.3%.
Asian markets ended mostly higher on Wednesday, with Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average hitting a new high, rising 0.72%. Korean Kospi It increased by 1.58%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 0.7%, while mainland China’s CSI300 index rose nearly 1%. In Europe, the Stoxx600 rose 0.3%.
postponement
The Fed is scheduled to announce its latest policy decision at 2 p.m., the first under new Chairman Kevin Warsh, who is also scheduled to hold a press conference at 2:30 p.m.
Investors largely expect the Fed to keep interest rates unchanged in its target range of 3.5% to 3.75%. But most Fed watchers on Wall Street don’t expect Mr. Warsh to file a “dot” on the FOMC’s quarterly update on where individual executives think interest rates will go going forward.
Stocks emerged from mixed trading, with the Dow breaking above 52,000 for the first time, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq fell.
The move came after all three major stock averages rose on Monday following President Donald Trump’s announcement that the United States and Iran may have reached a deal to end the war. Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said both sides have concluded military operations and a formal signing ceremony will be held in Switzerland this Friday.
“I think we’re in pretty good shape here to finish the quarter strong and be positive going into the second half,” Scott Kronert, head of U.S. equity strategy at Citi Research, said on CNBC’s “Closing Bell: Overtime” Tuesday afternoon.
The strategist said leadership in the artificial intelligence infrastructure sector remains expected going into the second quarter reporting period. “As we get closer to resolving the Iran conflict, and now oil prices are starting to fall, I think the Fed will be on the sidelines,” he said.
“What this ultimately does is extend the strategic expansion that has been underway over the past month or so, all of which, in our view, gives us a path to even greater heights heading into the second half of the year,” Kronert said.
