US Stock Market Today: Dow, S&P 500 Futures Rise As Investors Await Fed Rate Decision

US stock market futures trade slightly higher while investors await the Federal Reserve's monetary policy decision on interest rates due later in the day, but pressure from crude oil prices remains a roadblock for solid bullish bets.

S&P 500 futures were up 0.21%, and Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose more than a percent at 1300 IST.

Brent crude, however, traded over $87 per barrel on Wednesday after touching $100 last week, which might force the Fed to move rates more aggressively than expected as high oil prices trigger higher inflation and the current borrowing cost is already much higher than the central bank's target mandate of 2%.

"For now, I think the market's pretty comfortable with where they are. We've seen them bounce around a little bit, but generally, I think they're going to be range-bound in the second half of the year," said Dave Sekera, chief US market strategist for Morningstar.

"So, how have we performed here in the second quarter? US market was up quite a bit, 15.5%. Surprise to nobody is really the AI stocks that were driving the returns. The growth category, up about 23.5% over the course of the quarter, well outpacing both core and value."

What's the US Fed's Next Move?

Markets around the world would keep a close watch on today's Fed decision with money market traders now pricing in a nearly 70% probability that the central bank holds rates steady at the current target range of 3.5%-3.75%, according to CME's FedWatch tool. Those expectations are in line with economists' predictions.

Most major brokerages expect the Fed to keep interest rates unchanged for the rest of the year as their base-case scenario. However, Bank of America and Deutsche Bank remain exceptions, with the former projecting three rate hikes and the latter expecting two hikes, both beginning in September.

In the meantime, South Korean stocks suffered their steepest decline in nearly five months on Tuesday, plunging almost 11% as a global selloff in semiconductor shares hit major chipmakers SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics.

Investor concerns over rising competition from China intensified after ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) made a strong market debut, adding pressure on South Korea's chip sector.

The benchmark KOSPI tumbled 732.09 points, or 10.84%, to close at 6,023.66. It marked the index's worst single-day performance since March 4, when markets witnessed a record drop following the outbreak of the Iran war.

Indian Stock Market Bullish, Nifty over 24,000

The Indian stock market -Sensex and Nifty - continued their upward momentum in Wednesday's afternoon session, with the Nifty crossing the 24,250 mark as buying interest emerged across IT, FMCG, banking and metal stocks.

At around 2:20 pm, the Sensex was trading 977.59 points, or 1.27%, higher at 77,743.51, while the Nifty gained 288.25 points, or 1.20%, to reach 24,273.60.

Market sentiment remained positive, with 2,332 stocks advancing compared with 1,465 stocks that declined. IT, metal, FMCG and private banking shares were among the key drivers of the rally, while broader markets also moved higher.

The India VIX, a measure of market volatility, eased 3.66%, indicating improved investor confidence during the session.