All eyes on Fed decision
U.S. stock markets were poised to open solidly higher on Wednesday as traders await the conclusion of a key Federal Reserve meeting later today.
Fed policymakers are widely expected to signal an interest rate hike in March and further policy tightening, as they seek to cool down an economy where consumer prices have hit a 40-year high.
The central bank will announce its monetary policy decision at 2 p.m. ET, while Chair Jerome Powell will hold a news conference to elaborate on the decision half an hour later.
As of 5:20 a.m. ET, futures tied to the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied 365 points, or 1.07% to 34,550.
S&P 500 futures gained 65.25 points, or 1.5% to 4,414.25 while the tech-dominated Nasdaq 100 futures ticked up 316.25 points, or 2.24% to 14,457.
Tesla, Intel, Boeing earnings on tap
Wall Street will also focus on another batch of corporate earnings, with electric-vehicle maker Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA), Boeing (NYSE: BA), and Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) among top companies scheduled to report today.
Analysts expect Tesla to post fourth-quarter earnings of $2.33 a share and revenue of $17.1 billion after the closing bell.
Aircraft maker Boeing will announce its results before the bell, and analysts expect it to come out with a loss of 14 cents per share on revenue of $17.6 billion.
Chip giant Intel is seen reporting earnings of 90 cents per share on revenue of $18.32 billion after the close.
AT&T (NYSE: T), Levi Strauss (NYSE: LEVI), Xilinx (NASDAQ: XLNX), Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT), Kimberly Clark (NYSE: KMB), and Seagate (NASDAQ: STX) are also due to report today.
Microsoft shares rise after solid earnings and revenue growth
Meanwhile, shares of Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) were trading higher in premarket trade Wednesday hours, after the computing giant announced its second-quarter financial results late Thursday.
The company said it had earnings of $18.8 billion, or $2.48 per share, up from the $2.03 per share it posted in the same period last year. Revenue jumped to $51.73 billion, up 20% from $43.08 billion in the prior-year quarter.
Analysts on average expected the company to have earned $2.31 per share on revenue of $50.9 billion.
The results for the most recent quarter, which ended Dec. 31, come after the company acquired Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ: ATVI) in an all-cash deal worth $68.7 billion.
As of writing, Microsoft stock was up $9.86, or 3.42% to $298.35 per share.
