U.S. stocks on track amid uncertainty over Fed’s meeting this week

stocks

U.S Stocks were set for a dull week as investors raised concerns over the Federal Meeting that may influence the future of interest rates.

Futures for the Dow Jones declined following the renewed selloff in oil futures CLM6, down 0.98%. Dow futures declined 22 points or 0.1%, to 17,895. S&P 500 index ESM6, was down 0.30% or 2.75 points, 2,083.25. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index NQM6, down 0.34%, or 5.75 points to 4,460.

Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at Oanda in a note, said, “We could be in for another rocky week in the markets with particular focus back on the central banks as we get the latest monetary policy decisions from the Federal Reserve and Bank of Japan.”

“I still believe we’ll see two rate hikes from the Fed this year, and the FOMC statement will confirm its intentions to do so. What the markets are looking for though is an idea of when we can expect them, with the June and December meetings looking the most likely,” Erlam added.

Market Insights & Movers

More than half of the S&P 500’s market cap will report earnings this week, beginning with a busy lineup on Monday.

Xerox Corp. XRX, up 0.09% released their first-quarter earnings that fell below expectations but beat on revenue.

Private-equity firm KKR & Co. KKR, up 0.47% posted a bigger-than-forecast loss for first quarter earnings.

Halliburton Co. HAL, up 1.26% was expected to release results on Monday but on Friday announced it will postpone the release until next month.

Express Scripts Holding Co. ESRX, up 0.30% and Pioneer Natural Resources Co. PXD, up 1.67% are among the companies expected to report their quarter earnings the bell.

Apple Inc. AAPL, down 0.27%  will report its earnings on Tuesday and is expected to report its first year-over-year decline in iPhone unit sales. Shares dropped 0.3% premarket, following losses from last week when iPhone sales estimates were lowered by Raymond James.

Other markets

Stocks in Asia closed lower across almost all industries. The European markets were not any different as well.

Currencies:

The dollar declined against other major currencies, pushing the ICE dollar index DXY, down 0.25% to 94.848. The dollar weakened against the pound GBPUSD, up 0.5972% which bought $1.4475, after President Barack Obama asked Britain to vote to remain in the European Union.