Wall Street stock futures rose and Asia markets diverged Wednesday ahead of the first monetary policy meeting of the Federal Reserve in 2015.
Dow futures added 0.1%, Nasdaq futures climbed 0.9% and S&P 500 futures were up 0.3% several hours ahead of the opening bell.
“Having rallied to record highs over the past ten days on the ECB stimulus announcement, global markets have finally become concerned about the currency wars and the effect it has on corporate earnings — particularly in the U.S.,” said IG Markets, in a report. “The question (for the Fed) now becomes when will we see a rate rise?”
The Fed indicated previously that rates could rise in coming meetings as the economy has improved.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 index rose 0.2% but China’s Shanghai composite index tanked 1.4% on Wednesday.
Shares across Europe traded modestly lower. Britain’s FTSE 100 index fell 0.04%.
U.S. crude oil was down 81 cents to $45.42 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract added $1.08 on Tuesday to close at $46.23.
The euro edged down to $1.1336 from the previous session’s $1.1362.
In notable corporate news out of Asia, Chinese regulators accused e-commerce giant Alibaba on Wednesday of permitting sales of fake goods and hurting consumers in a report that was withheld until now to avoid disrupting the company’s U.S. stock market debut………
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