Traders Eye Fed Decision, Driving Muted Premarket Action for US Equity Futures

09:00 AM EDT, 06/18/2025 (MT Newswires) -- US equity futures were little changed before Wednesday's opening bell as traders looked ahead to the Federal Reserve's rate decision.

Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were up 0.1%, S&P 500 futures were 0.1% higher, and Nasdaq futures were up 0.2%.

The Federal Open Market Committee is scheduled to release a monetary policy statement at 2 pm ET at the conclusion of its two-day meeting.

US President Donald Trump is considering a potential military action against Iran amid the ongoing Iran-Israel conflict, media outlets reported.

The US stock market will be closed on Thursday for the Juneteenth holiday.

Oil prices were higher, with front-month global benchmark North Sea Brent crude up 0.4% at $76.79 per barrel and US West Texas Intermediate crude 0.4% higher at $73.62 per barrel.

The new unemployment claims bulletin, released at 8:30 am ET, showed initial jobless claims decreased by 5,000 to 245,000 in the week ended June 14, in line with estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Housing starts came in at a 1.256 million annual rate in May versus estimates for 1.35 million, while permits came in at 1.393 million against estimates for 1.42 million.

In other world markets, Japan's Nikkei closed 0.9% higher, Hong Kong's Hang Seng ended 1.1% lower, and China's Shanghai Composite finished 0.04% higher. Meanwhile, the UK's FTSE 100 was up 0.1%, and Germany's DAX index was down 0.3% in Europe's early afternoon session.

In equities, Scholar Rock (SRRK) shares were 14% higher pre-bell after the company said a phase 2 trial of apitegromab in tirzepatide-induced weight loss showed superior lean mass preservation compared with tirzepatide alone.

On the losing side, Alibaba Group (BABA) shares were 1.3% lower after the company's AliExpress unit was found to be in breach of its obligation under the EU's Digital Services Act to assess and mitigate risks associated with the dissemination of illegal products.

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