US stock futures advanced on Wednesday, with S&P 500 contracts up 0.6%, Nasdaq 100 futures gaining 0.8%, and Dow Jones futures rising nearly 350 points. The move marked a third straight session of gains as investors positioned ahead of the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy decision later in the day. While the fed funds rate is widely expected to remain unchanged, market participants are focused on updated economic projections and Chair Powell’s comments for any indication of how escalating tensions with Iran might influence the policy outlook.
A pullback in oil prices offered additional support to risk sentiment. Optimism was further buoyed by developments in artificial intelligence, after Nvidia’s CEO cited the rapidly evolving OpenClaw project as a major advance in human–AI interaction. Nvidia shares rose about 1% in premarket trading. Other megacap names also traded higher before the opening bell, including Apple (+0.4%), Alphabet (+0.5%), Microsoft (+0.4%), Amazon (+0.4%), Meta (+0.5%), and Broadcom (+0.5%).
