$SOFI

Stocks Mostly Up Pre-Bell Ahead of Latest Fed Rate Decision

The main US stock measures were mostly pointing higher in Wednesday's premarket activity as traders await the Federal Reserve's monetary policy decision later in the day, the first under new Chair Kevin Warsh.The S&P 500 edged up 0.1% and the Nasdaq rose 0.5% before the opening bell, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.1%. The Dow recorded a new closing high Tuesday for the second consecutive session, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq finished lower.US markets will be closed on Friday for the Juneteenth National Independence Day holiday.The Fed's monetary policy committee will announce its latest decision on interest rates at 2 pm ET. Markets widely expect the central bank to keep interest rates unchanged for a fourth consecutive time, according to the CME FedWatch tool.Warsh, who assumed the Fed chair role last month, is expected to hold a press conference at 2:30 pm.The central bank's latest "dot plot" will likely show that most officials expect monetary policy to be "stagnant" for the rest of the year amid concerns over inflation, Stifel said Tuesday. "The (Federal Open Market Committee) is expected to remove the lingering easing bias from the statement, signaling instead an equal probability of the next policy move being a rate cut or a rate hike," according to Stifel.US Treasury yields were up in premarket action, with the two-year rate increasing 0.3 basis points to 4.05% and the 10-year rate adding 0.7 basis points to 4.44%.A draft memorandum of understanding between the US and Iran calls for an immediate and permanent end to hostilities, the lifting of sanctions on Tehran, and negotiations toward a final nuclear agreement, Bloomberg News reported Tuesday, citing a document it reviewed.Under the draft, the US and Iran would begin a 60-day negotiating period aimed at reaching a final agreement, according to Bloomberg. The memorandum is expected to be formally signed in Switzerland on Friday.However, analysts have flagged the possibility of implementation risks and potential disagreements."The path ahead is complex: watch for implementation disagreements, Gulf states' security demands, and Iran's continued leverage over the Strait of Hormuz," Deutsche Bank said in a note on Tuesday.President Donald Trump said Wednesday at the G7 conference that the proposed memorandum of understanding with Iran is "not final" and the US will "go right back to dropping bombs" if he doesn't like the Iran deal, CNBC reported.West Texas Intermediate crude oil increased 0.4% to $76.36 a barrel before the open, while Brent moved up 0.5% to $79.32.Wednesday's economic calendar also has the weekly mortgage applications bulletin at 7 am, followed by the retail sales report for May at 8:30 am. Last month's pending home sales index is out at 10 am, while the weekly EIA domestic petroleum inventories report posts at 10:30 am.Shares of SpaceX (SPCX) advanced 1.9% pre-bell after closing the previous session up 4.8%. SoFi Technologies (SOFI) rose 2% while Netflix (NFLX) nudged 0.1% lower.La-Z-Boy's (LZB) stock jumped 17% as the furniture manufacturer reported a year-over-year gain in fiscal fourth-quarter earnings and said it expects sales to outperform the industry in the ongoing quarter.Jabil (JBL) and CarMax (KMX) are scheduled to report their latest financial results before the bell.Gold slipped 0.1% to $4,348 per troy ounce, while bitcoin fell 1.1% to $64,870.