Wall Street turned toward losses early today ahead of the Federal Reserve’s policy meeting this week, the Associated Press reports.
Futures for the S&P 500 fell 0.2%, and futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.1% before the bell.
The market posted some gains last week following reports of several healthy economic indicators ahead of the Federal Reserve’s two-day meeting, which ends Wednesday. The U.S. central bank raised rates aggressively through 2022 and 2023 in an effort to tame inflation, but it kept interest rate levels at its last meeting. Inflation has generally been easing back to its target of 2%.
Traders are overwhelmingly betting that the Fed will hold interest rates steady Wednesday. They also expect the central bank could keep rates unchanged for the rest of the year. The Fed has said it remains willing to continue raising rates if it seems necessary to continue fighting inflation.
In corporate news, Clorox shares slid more than 2% after it reported that a cyberattack damaged its IT infrastructure and disrupted operations. The maker of bleach and other household cleaning products said it expected to start transitioning back to automated order processing next week, but that the disruption would have negative implications for its first-quarter financial results.
Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis all fell in the premarket as the United Auto Workers strike entered its fourth day.
In other trading this morning, benchmark U.S. crude oil gained 44 cents to $91.21 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, the pricing standard for international trading, was up 41 cents at $94.34 per barrel.
The U.S. dollar weakened to 147.60 Japanese yen from 147.72 yen.
