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All
eyes will be on the Fed as it begins its meeting later on
Wednesday and holds a conference on Thursday, when it will
announce if it will raise long-term interest rates for the first
time since June 2006.
Speculation about when the Fed will end seven years of near-zero
interest rates has dogged Wall Street for several months, with
the picture complicated by recent market turbulence that some
see as justification for the central bank to hold off.
Stocks have been volatile since China devalued its currency in
August. The S&P 500 has had moves of at least 1 percent in 12 of
the past 18 sessions.
The Fed has said it will raise rates only when it sees a
sustained recovery in the economy with special emphasis on the
labor market and inflation. While the job market has continued
to gain strength, inflation remains below the 2 percent target
set by the central bank.
Another gauge of inflation will be the U.S. Consumer Price Index
for August due at 8:30 a.m. ET, which is expected to have
remained unchanged.
The dollar index <.DXY> was up marginally at $95.69, off a
two-week low struck on Monday, after upbeat consumer spending
data released on Tuesday kept alive expectations the Fed would
raise interest rates.
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
trimmed its growth outlook on Wednesday for the global economy
but said the United States is doing well enough that its central
bank should go ahead with a rate increase.
Shares of Hewlett-Packard were up 0.3 percent at $27.20
premarket, a day after the tech pioneer said it expects to cut
another 25,000 to 30,000 jobs in its enterprise business.
U.S.-listed shares of Anheuser-Busch InBev were up 6.1
percent at $114.76 after the world's biggest beer maker
approached rival SABMiller about a takeover that would form a
brewing colossus that makes around a third of the beer drunk
globally.
(Reporting by Tanya Agrawal)
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