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U.S. equity futures edged higher Wednesday ahead of a pivotal interest rate decision from the Federal Reserve that could mark the beginning of a new hiking cycle over the next few months.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials added 118 points, or 0.2%, to 52,644.
Futures for the S&P 500 gained 18.5 points, or 0.2%, to 7,674.25.
Futures for the NASDAQ Composite zoomed 131 points, or 0.5%. to 29,377.75.
Futures markets were pricing in a quarter-point hike for Wednesday with 92.5% odds.
Odds of an additional quarter-point hike were 45% for the Fed’s October meeting and 30% for the Fed’s December meeting. The current target rate range is 3.5% to 3.75%.
The 12-month rate on the consumer price index came in at 3.4% in August, marking a cooling from the recent high of 4.2% in May.
On a month-over-month basis, CPI rose 0.4% last month, in line with expectations, though core inflation, which removes the more volatile categories of food and energy, rose 0.3%, which was more than expected.
SK Hynix is in talks with Intel to manufacture its memory chips in the U.S. for the first time, Reuters reported Wednesday, sending shares of both companies higher in premarket trading.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 index recovered 0.7% Wednesday, while in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng pointed upwards 0.2%.
Oil prices dropped $2.39 to $103.44 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices hiked $55.70 to $4,388.50 U.S an ounce.
