Skip to main content
Chicago Employee homeNews home
Story

Stock market today: Dow, S&P 500, Nasdaq futures inch up as Fed takes front seat from Mideast fears

更新時間 1 min read

In This Article:

US stock futures ticked higher on Wednesday, with ongoing Israel-Iran hostilities keeping investors on edge as they braced for the Federal Reserve's interest-rate decision later in the day.

Dow Jones Industrial Average (YM=F) edged up 0.2%, while those on the S&P 500 (ES=F) rose roughly 0.3%. Contracts on the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 (NQ=F) moved up about 0.4%, on the heels of a losing day for the major gauges.

Markets are on alert for any sign that the US has joined the Middle East conflict, which has swung stocks around since it broke out last week. President Trump said "our patience is wearing thin" and met with his national security team on Tuesday, raising speculation that the US could join Israel's offensive. Iran has warned it will respond firmly if the US crosses a red line into involvement, and has reportedly readied missiles for strikes on US bases in region if it does.

Meanwhile, oil prices retreated about 1% early on Wednesday after rallying as tensions built. Brent futures (BZ=F), the international benchmark, fell to below $76 a barrel while West Texas Intermediate (CL=F) crude traded just above $74.

Read more: The latest on Trump's tariffs

Against that background, attention is turning to the Fed's policy decision due at 2 p.m. ET., when the central bank is expected to hold interest rates steady. Instead, the focus is on the "dot plot" to shed light on whether two rate cuts are still on the table this year. Investors will watch Chair Jerome Powell's press conference for insight into pressures on the economy amid Trump's tariffs and trade push.

LIVE 5 updates

  • Jenny McCall

    Trending tickers: AMD, Tesla and Micron

    Here are some top stocks trending on Yahoo Finance in premarket trading:

    AMD (AMD) stock rose over 1% in premarket trading on Wednesday, following the news it plans to partner with Microsoft to develop custom chips to power the next range of Xbox systems.

    Tesla (TSLA) stock was up before the bell today. A Bloomberg report on Wednesday said that Elon Musk's artificial intelligence startup xAI was burning through $1B a month as costs of building its AI models increased.

    Micron (MU) shares rose 1% today in premarket trading, following Wells Fargo analysts maintaining a Buy rating for the tech stock and a price target of $130.00.

  • Investors still aren't buying this stock rally

    The S&P 500 (^GSPC) is back trading near record highs, but there's still skepticism on Wall Street, Yahoo Finance's Allie Canal reports:

    Read more here.

  • Jenny McCall

    Good morning. Here's what's happening today.

  • Nintendo stock hits record as sales of Switch 2 boom amid tariff risks

    Shares of Nintendo (NTDOY, 7974.T) continued to climb, with President Trump's trade policy shift providing an added tailwind to the success of its Switch 2 games console update.

    The stock jumped in Tokyo, while the US-listed stock popped before the bell on Wednesday.

    Bloomberg reports:

    Read more here.

  • Oil gains maintained with potential US involvement in Israel-Iran conflict in focus

    Oil is holding gains after spiking to a five-month high on Tuesday. Concerns over the US joining the ongoing conflict between Israel and Iran continue to bolster the value of the commodity.

    Bloomberg reports:

    Brent (BZ=F) traded above $76 a barrel after closing 4.4% higher in the previous session, while West Texas Intermediate (CL=F) was near $75. President Donald Trump met with his national security team on Tuesday, after demanding Iran’s “UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER” and warning of a possible strike against the country’s leader — Ayatollah Ali Khamenei — in a social media post.

    Iran’s crude-exporting infrastructure has been spared so far, and most of the fallout has been confined to shipping. The Middle East produces around a third of the world’s oil and a wider conflict could drive prices even higher.

    The biggest concern for the oil market centers on the Strait of Hormuz, although there are no signs that Iran is seeking to disrupt shipping through the narrow waterway. About a fifth of the world’s daily crude output passes through the strait at the entrance to the Persian Gulf.

    Read more here.