Investors await Fed rate decision
U.S. stocks are expected to open slightly lower on Wednesday as investors await the Federal Reserve to make a decision on interest rates at 2 p.m. ET.
Although investors are not expecting the central bank to announce any policy changes, they are hoping that policymakers will signal a rate reduction as soon as next month. Fed chair Jerome Powell is scheduled to hold a news conference today following the decision.
Futures on the blue-chip Dow were down 4 points, or 0.02% to 26,500 as of 6:01 a.m. ET. Futures on the broader S&P 500 declined 0.87 points, or 0.03% to 2,925.38 while those on tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 were up 0.12 points to 7,673.62.
U.S.-China trade talks to resume
U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that his administration will resume trade talks with China ahead of his meeting with President Xi Jinping at the G20 summit next week.
“Had a very good telephone conversation with President Xi of China,” Trump said on Twitter. “We will be having an extended meeting next week at the G-20 in Japan. Our respective teams will begin talks prior to our meeting.”
Trade talks between the U.S and Chinese officials collapsed in May when Trump hiked tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods, after accusing the Asian economic giant of backtracking on its pledges.
Trump launches 2020 re-election campaign
President Trump formally launched his re-election bid on Tuesday night at a rally in Orlando, Florida. The president made it clear to thousands of supporters who attended the rally that he would stand for re-election as an outsider, just like he did three years ago.
“Tonight I stand before you to officially launch my campaign for a second term as president of the United States. I promise you I will never ever let you down,” he said.
Trump also attacked Democratic presidential candidates by saying that “a vote for any Democrat in 2020 is a vote for the rise of radical socialism and the destruction of the American dream.”
Alphabet holds annual shareholder meeting today
Google parent Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG) will hold its annual shareholder meeting today at the Moffett Place Event Center in California. Shareholders are expected to bombard executives with difficult questions over the future of the tech giant.
They are likely to raise concerns over regulatory pressure after European Union regulators slapped Google with antitrust fines of nearly $7 billion for breaching competition laws.
Some shareholders are also calling for the company to break itself up before it is forced to split into different pieces by regulators.
