US stock futures inched down Wednesday as Wall Street waited for the Federal Reserve’s final policy decision of the year.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures (YM=F) and contracts tied to the S&P 500 (ES=F) held just below the baseline. Futures on the Nasdaq 100 (NQ=F) crept down around 0.1%.
The muted action follows several sessions of sideways trading as investors hold off on big bets ahead of the Fed’s announcement. Markets are pricing in a nearly 90% chance the central bank will deliver its third consecutive quarter-point rate cut, according to the CME FedWatch tool.
But the decision isn’t without tension. FOMC members remain split, with some officials arguing that easier policy is needed to support a cooling labor market, others warn further easing could risk reigniting inflation. Traders will be watching the post-meeting statement, set for release at 2 p.m. ET Wednesday, and Chair Jerome Powell’s press conference for clues on how the committee is thinking about the path forward.
Tuesday’s trading session offered little momentum as Wall Street waited for the Fed as the next catalyst. The Dow (^DJI) led the way lower, dragged down by weakness in JPMorgan (JPM). The Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) eked out a small gain thanks to strength in Tesla (TSLA) and Alphabet (GOOG).
The tech trade will get a key test Wednesday with an earnings report from Oracle (ORCL), as Wall Street increasingly looks to the cloud firm as proxy for the AI trade. Broadcom (AVGO), Costco (COST), and Lululemon (LULU) are set for earnings reports on Thursday.
Coming soon
Stock market coverage for Wednesday, December 10, 2025.