Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange during morning trading on Aug. 20, 2024.
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Stock futures were slightly lower on Tuesday evening as investors turned toward the first Federal Reserve interest rate decision of 2025.
Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average inched down 28 points, or 0.06%. Nasdaq 100 futures slipped 0.2%, while S&P 500 futures declined nearly 0.2%.
During regular trading Tuesday, tech stocks led the S&P 500 higher and brought the Nasdaq Composite to a 2% gain. The two indexes made a comeback after incurring sharp losses on Monday in a sell-off spurred by the emergence of China’s DeepSeek and the threat it poses to the artificial intelligence trade. Nvidia, which suffered a roughly 17% decline Monday, jumped nearly 9% on Tuesday.
“As far as the DeepSeek news over the weekend, at the end of the day today, there really hasn’t been that much of an impact on a market-wide basis,” Bespoke Investment Group co-founder Paul Hickey said Tuesday on CNBC’s “Closing Bell: Overtime.”
The Fed’s interest rate decision on Wednesday is now a focal point for investors, as well as Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s press conference. Fed funds futures data reflect a nearly 100% certainty that the central bank will keep rates steady at a target range of 4.25% to 4.50%, according to CME Group data.
“When it comes to the Fed, they’re widely not expected to do anything tomorrow and that’s a good thing. The less the Fed has to do, the better it is for the market, in our view,” Hickey added.
Investors will be paying especially close attention to Powell’s comments — his first press conference in President Donald Trump’s second term. The two have had a contentious relationship dating back to Trump’s first term. The president has already said he would “demand that interest rates drop immediately.”
