Stock futures step higher as markets wait for Fed: Stock market news today

Wall Street stock futures rose on Wednesday, in the wait to find out whether the Federal Reserve will hold interest rates steady as expected at the wrap-up of its meeting later.

Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) and the S&P 500 (^GSPC) both gained about 0.2%, after the benchmarks closed lower on Tuesday. Nasdaq 100 futures were around 0.1% higher, after tech stocks lost ground in the previous session as Instacart's IPO rally lost some momentum.

Traders overwhelmingly believe the Fed won't hike rates, pricing in a 99% chance of a pause in its tightening campaign, according to the CME FedWatch Tool. The focus is instead on what happens in the future: Whether it will return to raising borrowing costs this year, and when a rate cut could be on the cards.

Given that, the focus will be on what the central bank's "dot plot" signals about the future path of rates, and what hints can be gleaned from Fed Chair Jerome Powell's comments.

The recent soaring rally in oil prices, seen by some as a risk to the Fed's efforts to cool inflation, pulled back somewhat on Wednesday as investors weighed how its policy decision might affect economic growth and fuel demand. Brent crude (BZ=F) and WTI crude (CL=F) futures were down about 0.7%, but analysts are still concerned prices might be headed above $100.

In another sign of a reviving US IPO market, Klaviyo (KVYO) is set to make its debut on Wednesday, on the heels of debuts by Arm (ARM) and Instacart. The marketing automation company has priced its offering above range at $30 a share, for a valuation of $9.2 billion.

Elsewhere, an unexpected slowdown in UK inflation boosted the odds that the Bank of England will pause increasing interest rates after making one last hike on Thursday. The British pound dropped after the August inflation report.

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