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Stocks were set for muted gains as investors wait for an update from the Federal Reserve later Wednesday.
Dow Jones Industrial Average
and
S&P 500
futures were less than 0.1% higher around 8:45 a.m. eastern.
Nasdaq Composite
futures gained 0.4%.
The Federal Open Market Committee began its two-day policy meeting on Tuesday and will give an update this afternoon. Most watchers don’t expect the Fed to increase interest rates soon, though many anticipate the central bank will indicate the timing around reducing the size of its current bond purchasing program. Less money moving into the bond market would bring bond prices down and yields up, which could weigh on stock prices. That’s especially true if the Fed moves quickly on tapering.
“If tapering is about to start, that will be a new ball game for all asset classes,” writes Peter Boockvar, chief investment officer at Bleakley Advisory Group.
Here are five stocks making moves in Wednesday’s premarket action:
Apple
(ticker: AAPL) stock fell 0.8% in Wednesday trading after reporting a profit of $1.30 a share on sales of $81.4 billion Tuesday. That was enough to beat estimates of $1.01 a share on sales of $73.3 billion.
Alphabet
(GOOGL) stock rose 3.8% after reporting a profit of $27.26 a share Tuesday, beating estimates of $19.34 a share, on sales of $61.8 billion, above expectations for $56.1 billion.
Microsoft
(MSFT) stock rose 1.6% after reporting a profit of $2.17 a share Tuesday, beating estimates of $1.92 a share, on sales of $46.1 billion, above expectations for $44.2 billion.
Boeing
(BA) stock rose 5.1% after reporting a profit of 40 cents a share Wednesday, beating estimates for a loss of 83 cents a share, on sales of $17 billion, above expectations for $16.5 billion.
Starbucks
(SBUX) stock dropped 3.3% after reporting a profit of $1.01 a share Tuesday, beating estimates of 78 cents a share, on sales of $7.5 billion, above expectations for $7.3 billion.
Write to Jacob Sonenshine at jacob.sonenshine@barrons.com
