Futures rise on earnings reports ahead of Fed decision

div classBodysc17zpet90 cdBBJodivpReuters – U.S. stock index futures rose on Wednesday helped by positive earnings updates from companies such as Starbucks and Advanced Micro Devices, with the Federal Reserve likely to deliver the biggest interest rate hike since May 2000.p

pAdvanced Micro Devices Inc rose 6 in premarket trading after the chipmaker forecast strongerthanexpected fullyear and secondquarter revenue.pdivdivdiv classBodysc17zpet90 cdBBJodiv

pRival Nvidia Corp added 1.8.p

pStarbucks Corp gained 5.9 after the coffee chain posted upbeat quarterly revenue.p

pTraders are pricing in expectations of a 50 basis points rate hike and announcement of the start of reductions to its 9 trillion balance sheet when the Fed releases its statement at the end of its twoday policy meeting at 2 p.m. ET 1800 GMT.p

pThe spotlight will be on Fed Chair Jerome Powells news conference for fresh clues on how far and how fast the U.S. central bank is prepared to go in an effort to bring down high inflation.p

pConcerns about a hit to economic growth due to a hawkish Fed, mixed earnings from some big growth companies, the conflict in Ukraine and pandemicrelated lockdowns in China have hammered Wall Street recently, with richly valued growth stocks bearing the brunt of the selloff.p

pBearish sentiment, or expectations that stock prices will fall over the next six months, rose sharply to 59.4 in the latest survey by the American Association of Individual Investors. The last time bearish sentiment went above that level was in March 2009 during the financial crisis.p

pAt 6:48 a.m. ET, Dow eminis were up 119 points, or 0.36, S&P 500 eminis were up 16.75 points, or 0.4, and Nasdaq 100 eminis were up 40.25 points, or 0.31.p

pThe firstquarter reporting season is in full swing. Of the 329 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported earnings as of Tuesday, 81.2 have topped analyst expectations according to Refinitiv estimates.p

pLivent Corp surged 21.6 after it posted a betterthanexpected quarterly profit and bolstered its 2022 revenue outlook as it benefited from higher demand for lithium used in electric vehicle batteries.p

pAirbnb Inc climbed 4.6 after the vacation rental firm projected upbeat secondquarter revenue, betting on pentup demand to drive a summer of strong travel after COVID19 curbs were eased globally.p

pWells Fargo rose 1 to lead gains among the big banks.p

pOn the data front, readings on ADP private payrolls and ISM nonmanufacturing activity for April are due later in the day.p

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pp Reporting by Devik Jain in Bengaluru Editing by Shounak Dasguptap

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