Stock market today: Live updates

U.S. stock futures edged higher early Wednesday, as investors monitor rising oil prices and the Federal Reserve‘s latest interest rate decision, due later.

S&P 500 futures gained 0.18% as Nasdaq 100 futures dipped 0.11%, reversing earlier gains. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were up 35 points, and were last seen hovering just above the flatline.

West Texas Intermediate crude futures advanced about 3.7% to trade at around $82 a barrel after U.S. Central Command said in a social media post that Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps forces launched “multiple ballistic missiles in an attempted surprise attack on U.S. forces based in the Middle East.” The missiles were successfully intercepted, Centcom said.

Investors are looking ahead to the Federal Reserve‘s interest rate decision and subsequent press conference with Chairman Kevin Warsh on Wednesday afternoon. Fed funds futures traders are pricing in a nearly 70% likelihood that the central bank holds rates steady at the current targe range of 3.5% to 3.75%, according to CME’s FedWatch tool.

SK Hynix‘s U.S.-listed shares were down almost 2.1% in premarket trading. The South Korean semiconductor mainstay trimmed losses to close 9.6% lower in Seoul on Wednesday, after falling its 15% earlier in the session.

A wider sell-off in index heavyweights sent South Korea’s benchmark tumbling. The Kospi closed 6% lower, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 dropped 1.49%. Mainland China’s CSI 300 ended 0.67% higher. Australia’s benchmark S&P/ASX 200 rose over 1%.

In Europe, the Stoxx 600 index fell 0.34%, as most regional sectors retreated into the red, as the French CAC 40, German DAX and Italian FTSE MIB all edged lower. Only the U.K.’s FTSE 100 maintained its advance, buoyed by the presence of key oil majors in the index.

Ford Motor shares jumped 4% in extended trading after the automaker beat earnings expectations and lifted its 2026 forecast. But Visa shares slipped roughly 1% after the payments giant posted underwhelming guidance.

Traders sent the Dow surging more than 500 points on Tuesday as they geared up for the decision. It marked the blue-chip average’s third straight winning day, with the recent decline in oil prices providing upward momentum.

But the Nasdaq Composite ended in the red for the fifth consecutive session, dragged down by struggling chip stocks. The VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) dropped 3.5% in its fourth straight negative session on Tuesday. This decline brought the fund’s one-week loss to more than 9%.

“We continue to believe markets are placing too much weight on inflation risk and too little weight on the economic consequences of further tightening,” said Julia Hermann, global market strategist at New York Life Investment Management. “A more hawkish communication stance would likely test today’s narrow market leadership more than the broader market.”

Prior to the Fed decision, investors will monitor earnings from Procter & Gamble and Humana coming before the bell. Results from megacap tech bellwethers Microsoft and Meta Platforms, as well as chipmaker Qualcomm, will be out in the afternoon.