* Fed’s two-day meeting kicks off on Tuesday * Traders see 94 pct chance of rate hike after Fed meeting * Mobileye jumps on $15.3 bln Intel deal * Futures: Dow up 10 pts, S&P up 0.75 pts, Nasdaq down 0.75pts (Adds details, comments, updates prices) By Yashaswini Swamynathan March 13 (Reuters) – U.S. stock index futures pointed to asubdued open on Wall Street as investors bided time ahead of anall-but-certain interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve. The Federal Open Market Committee, the central bank’spolicy-setting board, is expected to lift interest rates by aquarter point to 0.75 percent-1.00 percent after a two-daymeeting that starts on Tuesday. A blowout monthly jobs number on Friday underscored thestrength of the U.S. labor market and the ability of the economyto absorb a rate hike. Traders have placed a 94 percent bet that Fed Chair JanetYellen will announce an increase on Wednesday. Investors will closely watch Yellen’s comments for clues onwhether the central bank could get more aggressive on rates asthe economy shows signs of improvement. “Right now the markets appears to be in a wait-and-see phaseahead of the Fed decision,” said Andre Bakhos, managing directorat Janlyn Capital in Bernardsville, New Jersey. Dow e-minis were up 10 points, or 0.05 percent at8:30 a.m. ET (1330 GMT), with 5,538 contracts changing hands. S&P 500 e-minis were up 0.75 points, or 0.03 percent,with 101,937 contracts traded. Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 0.75 points, or 0.01percent, on volume of 6,491 contracts. The dollar, which tends to strengthen as rates climb, was upfor the first time in three days, but prices of safe-haven goldalso rose due to uncertainty ahead of elections in Europe. Wall Street ended higher on Friday, but the S&P 500 and theNasdaq snapped a six-week winning streak as worries aboutvaluations and the lack of detail on President Donald Trump’spolicy proposals threw a wrinkle in a post-election rally. “We’re at a point where no one wants to walk into the darkroom first. Even though a rate hike is a known factor, there isstill some uncertainty as to whether the economy is going to dowhat the market has been betting on,” Bakhos said. Oil prices could keep the market under pressure on Monday,as U.S. crude hit a more than three-month low of $48.31 onrising inventories. Shares of Mobileye jumped 31.3 percent to $62.06 inheavy premarket trading after chipmaker Intel agreed tobuy the driverless technology maker for about $15.3 billion.Intel’s shares were down 1.6 percent. Nutritional supplements maker Herbalife rose 3.2percent to $53.95 after Carl Icahn raised its stake to 24.57percent. (Reporting by Yashaswini Swamynathan in Bengaluru; Editing bySriraj Kalluvila)
September 12, 2024
