Futures up: Dow 0.45%, S&P 500 0.32%, Nasdaq 0.20%
Fed’s monetary policy announcement due at 2 pm ET
Uber falls after Q1 revenue misses estimates
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Disney shines as earnings top expectations
(Updates before markets open)
By Purvi Agarwal and Johann M Cherian
May 7 (Reuters) – U.S. stock index futures pointed to a slightly higher open on Wednesday as hopes for a de-escalation in trade tensions with Beijing firmed and investors awaited the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate decision later in the day.
Washington announced late on Tuesday that representatives of the two countries would meet over the weekend in Switzerland for ice-breaker trade discussions.
The meetings will follow weeks of tit-for-tat tariffs that roiled financial markets and flagged concerns about global economic growth.
Mixed signals from the world’s two biggest economies recently on the status of the negotiations led to uncertainty, pushing many companies to shelve their forecasts. The U.S. central bank, meanwhile, adopted a wait-and-watch approach despite signs of slowing growth.
President Donald Trump’s administration has said potential deals with major trading partners are underway, but markets are yet to see tangible results on that front.
“There’s a lot of theater that’s going to go on, but I would think that (moving forward) sooner rather than later is probably what both parties want,” said Kim Forrest, chief investment officer at Bokeh Capital Partners in Pittsburgh.
“It’s become clear that a lot of the tariff talks are more for discussions on how to change trade.”
At 08:36 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were up 185 points, or 0.45%, S&P 500 E-minis were up 18.25 points, or 0.32%, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 40 points, malware or 0.20%.
The U.S. Federal Reserve is scheduled to announce its policy decision on Wednesday afternoon, when it is widely expected to hold interest rates steady.
Traders are now roughly pricing in a rate cut by July, according to data compiled by LSEG, after a mixed bag of data last week signaled a slowing U.S. economy and a resilient labor market.
Comments from policymakers will be scrutinized for clues on how they plan to approach monetary policy easing this year, given the backdrop of Trump’s criticism of Fed Chair Jerome Powell and repeated calls for lower interest rates, which had spooked investors in April.
Wall Street ended lower for the second straight session on Tuesday after the U.S. administration failed to provide clarity on the trade front.
The S&P 500 is more than 8% away from its record high notched in February, even though all indexes have recouped declines logged since Trump’s announcement of “Liberation Day” reciprocal tariffs on April 2.
Advanced Micro Devices was up 1.2% in premarket trading after the chipmaker forecast revenue for the second quarter above Wall Street estimates.
Walt Disney’s quarterly results
topped Street expectations
, helped by increased visitor spending at its U.S. theme parks and a surge in streaming customers, sending its shares up 8.4%.
Uber Technologies dropped 4.1% as the ride-hailing and food delivery company
missed quarterly revenue
expectations and said it anticipates a 1.5% currency-related drag on second-quarter gross bookings growth.
Arista Networks fell 6.5% after its quarterly report, while Marvell Technology lost 8.4% after narrowing its forecast for the first quarter of 2026 and postponing its investor day. (Reporting by Purvi Agarwal and Johann M Cherian in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai)
