ONE: Stock futures edge up ahead of Fed rate decision
Most economists are anticipating a half-point rate cut in the federal funds rate target from 1 percent to 0.5 percent, but many in the market have been pricing in an even larger cut to an all-time low of 0.25 percent.
Meanwhile, investors are also eager to pore over Goldman Sachs Group Inc.‘s fiscal fourth-quarter financial results. Analysts are anticipating the bank to post a loss of $3.73 a share.
On Monday, the stock market pulled back moderately as investors, while optimistic that the nation‘s floundering automakers will get federal aid from the government sometime soon, grew nervous about the growing list of firms and individual investors affected by investment manager Bernard Madoff.
Demand for government bonds remained high early on Tuesday. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, fell to 2.49 percent from 2.53 percent late Monday. The yield on the popular three-month T-bill — whose yield has at times gone negative due to frenzied buying — rose to 0.04 percent from 0.02 percent late Monday.
The dollar was mixed against other major currencies, while gold prices fell.
Markets overseas were mixed. Japan‘s Nikkei stock average fel 1.12 percent, while Hong Kong‘s Hang Seng index rose 0.55 percent. In late morning trading, Britain‘s FTSE 100 rose 0.14 percent, Germany‘s DAX index rose 1.33 percent, and France‘s CAC-40 rose 0.54 percent.
