Stock Market Today: Fed decision looms as S&P 500 hits 2023 high; Factory gate inflation slows
Today's Fed rate decision, as well as its new summary of economic projections, could be the final major headline event of a stunningly successful year for stocks.
Check back for live updates throughout the trading day.
U.S. equity futures Wednesday edged higher while Treasury bond yields steadied and oil prices slumped to a six-month low, as investors looked to the Federal Reserve's final policy meeting of the year for clarity on interest rates and growth prospects heading into 2024.
Updated at 8:39 AM EST
Factory inflation follow-on
Producer prices rose 0.9% from last year in November, the lightest increase since June and a tenth of a percent inside Street forecasts, while core pressures were unchanged from October, adding to evidence that inflation is falling in virtually all corners of the world's biggest economy.
Treasury yields moved lower in the wake of the data release, with benchmark 10-year notes falling 2 basis points to 4.17% and 2-year paper pegged at 4.691%.
Stocks were also extending gains, with the S&P 500 called 7 points higher and the Dow looking at a 45 point opening bell advance. The Nasdaq is called 52 points higher.
Updated at 7:33 AM EST
Pfizer fizzles
Pfizer (PFE) - Get Free Report shares are falling sharply in pre-market trading, extending their 2023 collapse to around 50%, following a disappointing 2024 profit update marred by slumping vaccine sales and a 40 cent hit from its $43 billion Seagen purchase.
Related: Pfizer tumbles on 2024 revenue forecast amid covid vaccine sales slump
Stock Market Today
The Fed is widely expected to keep its benchmark lending rate at a two-decade high of between 5.25% and 5.5% when it wraps up its two-day policy meeting later today in Washington.
The central bank's rate-setting committee, chaired by Jerome Powell, is likely to focus on stubbornly high core-inflation rates and a resilient job market, when it releases its rate decision and statement at 2 p.m. U.S. Eastern Time. The report will also include fresh growth and inflation forecasts for the world's biggest economy.
The new Summary of Economic Projections, colloquially known as the dot plots, could prove crucial in mapping out the Fed's near-term forecasting following September's release, which called for no rate cuts in 2024 and the current market forecast of at least four.
Related: Fed Chair Powell can lean into rate cut bets after sticky November inflation report
Bond markets were steady heading into today's decision, following a trio of solid, but by no means spectacular, Treasury auctions earlier this week. Those included a $37 billion 10-year sale on Monday and a $21 billion sale of 30-year bonds yesterday.
Benchmark 10-year paper was holding near a three-month low of 4.183% in early New York dealing while 2-year notes were last pegged at 4.726%, The 2-year has added some 20 basis points (0.2 percentage point) so far this month following hotter-than-expected November job and inflation reports.
The U.S. dollar index, meanwhile, was marked 0.06% higher at 1043.926, taking its December gain to around 0.5%.
In other markets, oil prices slid to an early June low in overnight trading, before finding support ahead of today's Energy Department data release on domestic crude stockpiles. The report comes amid broadening concern about demand in a slowing global economy.
Brent crude futures contracts for February delivery, the global pricing benchmark, were last seen trading 21 cents higher on the session at $73.45 per barrel. WTI contracts for January were marked 24 cents higher at $68.785 per barrel.
On Wall Street, futures tied to the S&P 500, which closed a at January 2022 high of 4,643.70 points to take its 2023 gain to around 20.4%, suggest a 3 point opening bell gain.
Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average are indicating a 41 point advance. The tech-focused Nasdaq, which is up 38.9% for the year, is called 33 points higher.
In overseas markets, Europe's Stoxx 600 was marked 0.24% higher in early Frankfurt trading, while Britain's FTSE 100 added 0.27% ahead of interest rate decisions from both the European Central Bank and the Bank of England tomorrow.
Overnight in Asia, a muted statement from the Central Economic Work Conference, a key policy event held by policymakers in Beijing, triggered another round of selling in China stocks. The move pushed the regionwide MSCI ex-Japan benchmark 0.44% lower into the close of trading.
The Nikkei 225, meanwhile, closed 0.25% higher in Tokyo, powered by tech and financial stocks, to take its third-quarter advance to around 3.1%.
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