U.S. Market Futures Pointing Higher after Unchanged BOJ Policy

U.S. stock futures are pointing higher in pre-market trading for Wednesday, September 21. The Dow Futures are at 18120.0 for a gain of 73.00 points. The S&P 500 Futures are at 2140.0 for a gain of 9.00 points. The Nasdaq Futures are at 4824.0 for a gain of 25.50 points. The Russell Futures are at 1229.2 for a gain of 6.30 points.

In overnight trading in the Eastern Hemisphere, Japan’s Nikkei 225 was at 16807.62 for a gain of 315.47 or 1.91 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index is at 23669.90 for a gain of 139.04 or 0.59 percent. China’s Shanghai Composite is at 3025.87 for a gain of 2.87 points or 0.10 percent. India’s S&P BSE Sensex is at 28507.42 for a gain of -15.78 points or -0.06 percent. In Europe, the FTSE 100 is at 6857.78 for a gain of 26.99 or 0.40 percent. Germany’s DAX is at 10514.57 for a gain of 120.71 or 1.16 percent. France’s CAC 40 is at 4445.84 for a gain of 57.24 points or 1.30 percent. The Stoxx Europe 600 is at 344.37 for a gain of 3.37 points or 0.99 percent.

Wednesday’s Factors and Events

Stocks are trading higher in the pre-market after the Bank of Japan voted to keep its central bank borrowing rate and bond purchasing program unchanged. The Bank of Japan will however focus on a target rate for its 10 year government bonds of 0 percent in an effort to help improve deflation in the country. With the Japan’s monetary policy basically unchanged, investors will turn their focus to the Federal Reserve’s meeting announcement this afternoon.

The FOMC’s afternoon monetary policy announcement will be the key focus for the day. Leading economic reports on the calendar for Wednesday also include Mortgage Applications and the EIA’s Petroleum Status Report.

In the pre-market, stocks trading actively include the following:

Tesoro

Tegna

Chesapeake Energy

CBS

Valero Energy

Agilent Technologies

Royal Caribbean Cruise

EQT Corp

Equity Residential

Southwestern Energy

Tuesday’s Activity

U.S. market indexes were higher Tuesday. For the day the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 18129.96 for a gain of 9.79 points or 0.05 percent. The S&P 500 was also higher, closing at 2139.76 for a gain of 0.64 points or 0.03 percent. The Nasdaq Composite closed higher at 5241.35 for a gain of 6.33 points or 0.12 percent.

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Source: DJIA, S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite. Google Finance.

Other notable index closes included the small-cap Russell 2000 at 1228.33 for a loss of -4.20 points or -0.34 percent; the S&P 600 Small-Cap Index at 742.36 for a loss of -2.49 points or -0.33 percent; the S&P 400 Mid-Cap Index at 1525.35 for a loss of -7.04 points or -0.46 percent; the S&P 100 Index at 948.77 for a gain of 1.42 points or 0.15 percent; the Russell 3000 Index at 1266.68 for a loss of -0.41 percent or -0.03 percent; the Russell 1000 Index at 1185.94 for a loss of -0.08 points or -0.01 percent; and the Dow Jones U.S. Select Dividend Index at 607.37 for a loss of -1.64 points or -0.27 percent.