Futures Pointed Higher Wednesday; Fed Expected to Raise Rates by 75 Basis Points

First Look

Futures are pointed higher Wednesday morning ahead of the Fed's rate decision later today. The central bank is expected to raise rates by 75 basis points with current projections predicting a 3.4% peak Federal Funds Rate towards the end of this year. Durable Orders are expected to fall 0.5% last month after increasing 0.7% in May. Meanwhile, shares of Microsoft (MSFT) and Alphabet (GOOG) are higher this morning after both tech giants missed earnings estimates but issued relatively bullish guidance. The Nasdaq is up 1.34%, the S&P is up 0.81%, the Dow Jones is up 0.42%.

Today's Sentiment

Quote of the Day

Any subject can be made interesting, and therefore any subject can be made boring.
Hilaire Belloc

Stocks on the Move

International Markets

Stocks in Asia are mixed. The Mumbai Sensex is up 0.99%, the Nikkei 225 is up 0.22%, the Australia ASX All Ordinaries is up 0.18% the Shanghai SE Composite Index is down -0.05% and the Hang Seng is down -1.13%. In Europe stocks are up. The FTSE 100 is up 0.64%, the Euro Stoxx 50 is up 0.54%, the DAX is up 0.38% and the CAC 40 is up 0.28%.

Futures & Currencies

Energy futures are up today. The price for West Texas Intermediate crude oil is up 0.91 at 95.89 per barrel. Brent crude is up 0.81 at 105.21 per barrel. Natural Gas is up 0.01 at 9. Precious metals are up this morning. Gold is up 4.15 at 1721.47 per ounce. Platinum is up 6.17 at 882.67 while silver is up 0.14 at 18.68. The dollar is down compared to the major currencies today. The greenback is down against the euro, down against the Yen and down against the Pound. Bitcoin is up 0.65% to $21,213.16 while Ethereum is up 3.38% to $1,449.89.

Put/Call Ratio

Yesterday, 1,100,472 call contracts traded on the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) compared to 841,364 put contracts. The single-session put/call ratio was 0.76.

Today's Economic Calendar

Earnings Expected Today