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U.S. stock futures are mixed on Wednesday as investors digested major technology earnings and geared up for the latest Federal Reserve policy announcement.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials tumbled 75 points, or 0.2%, to 33,808, losing some altitude following the release of Boeing’s results.
Futures for the S&P 500 inched up 0.5 points to 4,179.50.
Futures for the NASDAQ Composite index slumped 23 points, or 0.2%, to 13,930.
Google parent Alphabet reported better-than-expected earnings after the bell on Tuesday, sending shares of the tech giant up more than 5% in pre-market trading. Alphabet saw its revenues grow 34% from a year ago.
Meanwhile, Microsoft shares dipped about 2% in early trading even after the company topped analyst earnings. Microsoft had its largest revenue growth since 2018, thanks in part to gains in PC sales resulting from coronavirus-driven shortages last year.
Shares of AMD and Visa were higher in early trading after better-than-expected results.
Boeing lost about 1% in pre-market trading after posing its sixth straight quarterly loss.
Boosting sentiment about the economic recovery from the pandemic, Starbucks raised its full-year outlook as U.S. same-store sales growth returns to pre-pandemic levels. Starbucks shares were 1.5% lower in the pre-market however.
Technology darlings Apple and Facebook both report earnings on Wednesday after the bell.
The Fed wraps up its two-day policy meeting on Wednesday. The central bank is not expected to take any action, but economists expect it to defend its policy to let inflation run hot on a temporary basis.
Fed Chairman Jerome Powell will hold a press conference at 2:30 p.m. ET, 30 minutes after the decision is announced, and those comments could move markets.
Elsewhere, President Joe Biden is set to unveil later on Wednesday a $1.8 trillion plan in new spending and tax credits geared toward helping families.
The Biden administration’s new spending plan would hike the top income tax rate to 39.6% for the wealthiest Americans and raise taxes on capital gains to 39.6% for households making more than $1 million, according to senior administration officials. Stocks took a hit initially last week when reports of this tax hike began to surface.
Overseas, in Japan, the Nikkei 225 regained 0.2% early Wednesday, while in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index added 0.5%.
Oil prices popped 58 cents to $63.52 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices slipped $14.40 to $1,764.40 U.S.
