Fiserv earnings missed by $0.61, revenue fell short of estimates
Investing.com -- U.S. stock futures edged marginally higher Wednesday, searching for significant direction ahead of the release of mega-cap tech earnings and a much-anticipated Fed interest rate decision.
At 06:35 ET (10:35 GMT), Dow Jones Futures gained 80 points, or 0.2%, higher, S&P 500 Futures inched 15 points, or 0.2%, higher and Nasdaq 100 Futures gained 95 points, or 0.4%.
All three major U.S. stock indexes posted record closing highs on Tuesday, with the S&P 500 rising 0.2%, topped 6,900 for the first time ever intraday, putting it on the cusp of a major milestone at 7,000. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.3% and NASDAQ Composite jumped 0.8%.
Global sentiment has been boosted by news that U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are set to meet later this week, with negotiators finalizing a framework to avert new tariffs and sanctions.
Fed set to ease
The Federal Reserve’s two-day policy meeting ends later in the session, with a quarter-point rate cut all but priced in.
A prolonged government shutdown has left the Fed without most economic data, including the widely-watched monthly jobs report, to guage the health of the U.S. economy. As such, a lot of the interest will be on comments from Chair Jerome Powell for insight into how the central bank perceives the economy and the likely path of monetary policy.
Also in focus will be whether the central bank finally announces an end to its long-running balance sheet reduction program, known as quantitative tightening.
Nvidia jumps; earnings-heavy week in focus
In the corporate sector, earnings are due from software giant Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Instagram-owner Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) and Google-parent Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) after the close on Wall Street.
These results are set to be followed on Thursday by iPhone-maker Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and e-commerce titan Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN).
Such is their massive size and sway over investors that these reports stand to heavily dictate the trajectory of U.S. equities heading into the final months of 2025.
Elsewhere, Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) will also be in the spotlight after Trump said he plans to discuss the company’s Blackwell artificial intelligence processors with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, fueling speculation that Washington could ease restrictions on chip exports to China.
Trump had previously signaled that he might consider allowing Nvidia to export a downgraded version of its latest AI processor to China — a move that would mark a major policy shift and potential breakthrough in U.S.-China tech relations.
Nvidia shares rose in premarket trading, and such a move would see the chipmaker become the first $5 trillion company.
Crude stable after API data
Oil prices stabilized after recent losses following an unexpected draw in U.S. oil inventories, with trading ranges tight ahead of the conclusion of a Federal Reserve meeting.
Brent futures gained 0.1% to $63.89 a barrel, and U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures traded 0.1% higher to $60.20 a barrel.
The crude market had suffered two straight days of losses following a report that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies, a group known as OPEC+, is considering increasing oil production in December.
Data from industry body American Petroleum Institute, released on Tuesday, showed U.S. crude inventories fell by just over 4 million barrels for the week ended October 24, while gasoline inventories dropped by 6.35 million barrels.
The larger-than-expected draws triggered a short-term price surge during the last trading session and supported the market early this morning.
Ayushman Ojha contributed to this article