Wall Street pointed modestly higher in cautious trading today ahead of the Federal Reserve’s upcoming decision on interest rates, the Associated Press reports. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 were essentially flat, up less than 0.1% before the bell.
The Fed is gathering today for a two-day meeting before it announces its decision on where interest rates are going. In all likelihood, the Fed’s benchmark rate will be left where it is.
Stocks have been seesawing since early August on uncertainty about whether the Fed will finally end its hikes to interest rates. Higher rates have helped cool inflation from its peak last summer, but they have also hurt prices for stocks and other investments while slowing the economy.
Just as much attention will be on what Fed officials say about next year, when investors expect the Fed to begin cutting interest rates. Investors crave such cuts, which typically loosen up financial conditions and give boosts to financial markets.
Rates may have to stay higher for longer to get inflation down to the Fed’s 2% target. That quest has been complicated by a recent spike in oil prices.
Online grocery delivery company Instacart made its market debut today after raising $660 million in its initial public offering of 22 million shares at $30 apiece. Its shares are set to begin trading on the Nasdaq stock exchange under the stock symbol “CART.” The pricing of the IPO gave Instacart a market value of around $10 billion, significantly lower than the $39 billion value placed on it in 2021.
Shares in Stitch Fix tumbled nearly 7% in premarket after the personalized online fashion retailer reported losing nearly 500,000 active users in the past year and forecast first-quarter revenue well below Wall Street estimates.
In currency trading, the U.S. dollar rose to 147.69 Japanese yen from 147.58 yen.
