The
U.S. central bankers conclude their two-day meeting later in the
day. Focus will be on the Fed's policy statement, updated
economic projections and Chair Jerome Powell's press conference.
Wall Street rallied to all-time highs this month supported by
optimism around artificial intelligence, but has since retreated
a little after reports showing robust inflation dampened hopes
of the Fed kicking off its interest rate-easing cycle soon.
Traders pulled back bets for a June rate cut to 64% from 71% at
the start of last week, according to CME FedWatch data.
"Given the recent uptick in inflation, strong economic growth,
healthy jobs market and robust earnings, we could see some Fed
members plot fewer rate cuts for the year ... could tilt the
median forecast to two rate cuts this year from three plotted in
December," said Ipek Ozkardeskaya, a senior market analyst at
Swissquote Bank.
At 05:08 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 16 points, or 0.04%, S&P
500 e-minis were down 6.75 points, or 0.13%, and Nasdaq 100
e-minis were down 28.75 points, or 0.16%.
Most megacap growth stocks inched lower in premarket trading,
while Tesla gained 0.7% after confirming to Reuters it will
raise the price of China-produced Model Y vehicles by 5,000 yuan
($694.55) from April 1.
Nvidia, the chipmaker at the center of Wall Street's AI
euphoria, dipped 0.5% after closing higher in the previous
session on revealing pricing and shipment plans for its hotly
anticipated Blackwell B200 chip.
The Biden administration said it is awarding Intel nearly $20
billion in grants and loans, lifting shares of the chipmaker up
2.9%.
Nasdaq's shares fell 3.9% after the exchange operator said Borse
Dubai will sell shares worth $1.6 billion in the company,
reducing its stake to 10.8% from 15.5%.
Wells Fargo shed 1.2% after Citi downgraded its rating on the
lender to "neutral" from "buy".
(Reporting by Bansari Mayur Kamdar in Bengaluru; Editing by
Shounak Dasgupta)
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