Fed Rate Outlook Dulls Wall Street Pre-Bell; Asia Mixed, Europe Up

07:15 AM EDT, 09/17/2025 (MT Newswires) -- Wall Street futures inched lower pre-bell Wednesday ahead of the much-anticipated rate decision from the Federal Reserve.

The nation's central bank is widely expected to announce a 25-basis-point cut in its key policy interest rate at 2 pm ET. Fed Chair Jerome Powell will hold a press conference at 2:30 pm that will be parsed for clues on future policies. The Fed will also release its forward-look "dot plot," in its Summary of Economic Projections.

In the futures, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq declined 0.1% each, while the Dow Jones was little changed.

Yields on benchmark 10-year US Treasuries held just above 4% in morning action.

Asian exchanges traded unevenly overnight, with Hong Kong and Shanghai gaining on tech rallies. European bourses tracked marginally north midday on the continent.

On the economic calendar, in addition to the Fed rate decision, is the housing starts and permits bulletin for August at 8:30 am ET, followed by the Atlanta Fed Business Inflation Expectations report for September at 10 am.

The weekly EIA petroleum status report files at 10:30 am.

In pre-market action, Bitcoin traded at $116,377.29, West Texas Intermediate crude oil traded lower at $63.99. Spot gold traded for $3,662.78 an ounce.

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