NEW YORK, March 20 — US stock index futures were range bound today as investors awaited the conclusion of the Federal Reserve’s meeting where it is widely expected to keep interest rates unchanged and provide cues on its monetary policy trajectory.

US central bankers will conclude their two-day meeting later in the day. Focus will be on the Fed’s policy statement, updated economic projections and Chair Jerome Powell’s press conference.

Wall Street rallied to all-time highs this month, supported by optimism around artificial intelligence, but it has retreated a little in recent weeks after reports showing robust inflation dampened hopes of the Fed kicking off its rate-easing cycle.

Traders pulled back bets for a June rate cut to 64 per cent from 71 per cent at the start of last week, according to CME FedWatch data.

“Given the recent uptick in inflation, strong economic growth, healthy jobs market and robust earnings, we could see some Fed members plot fewer rate cuts for the year ... could tilt the median forecast to two rate cuts this year from three plotted in December,” said Ipek Ozkardeskaya, a senior market analyst at Swissquote Bank.

At 7:00 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 25 points, or 0.06 per cent, S&P 500 e-minis were down 1.25 points, or 0.02 per cent, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 18 points, or 0.1 per cent.

Most megacap growth stocks struggled for direction in premarket trading, while Tesla gained 0.5 per cent after confirming to Reuters it will raise the price of China-produced Model Y vehicles by 5,000 yuan (RM3,291) from April 1.

Nvidia, the chipmaker at the center of Wall Street’s AI euphoria, dipped 0.4 per cent after closing higher in the previous session on revealing pricing and shipment plans for its hotly anticipated Blackwell B200 chip.

The Biden administration said it is awarding Intel nearly US$20 billion (RM94.8 billion) in grants and loans, lifting shares of the chipmaker up 3.7 per cent.

Nasdaq’s shares fell 3.3 per cent after the exchange operator said Borse Dubai will sell shares worth US$1.6 billion in the company, reducing its stake to 10.8 per cent from 15.5 per cent.

Wells Fargo shed 1.2 per cent after Citigroup downgraded its rating on the lender to “neutral” from “buy”.

Boeing fell 2.3 per cent after CFO Brian West said the planemaker has decided to keep 737 jet production below 38 per month.

Super Micro Computer dropped 2.1 per cent after the company, which makes AI-optimized servers with Nvidia’s chips, announced the pricing of its public offering of 2 million shares.

PDD Holdings jumped 12.4 per cent after the e-commerce company beat Wall Street estimates for fourth-quarter revenue. — Reuters