U.S. stock futures are higher ahead of the Federal Reserve's interest rate announcement this afternoon.
The Fed is expected to hold rates steady as it continues to observe the effects of President Donald Trump's tariffs. So far, tariffs haven't boosted inflation much and the job market has slowed, but not cratered, giving the Fed time to take a wait-and-see approach to tariffs and now the Israel-Iran conflict.
Since Israel attacked Iran, oil prices have jumped to a near five-month high. Much of the world's oil comes from the Middle East, and if oil prices continue to climb or stay elevated for a while, that could ignite inflation.
Along with the Fed's policy announcement, central bankers will release their economic forecasts. Economists expect the Fed to raises its inflation outlook, lower its economic growth forecast and keep the unemployment rate fairly low. Investors will also be looking to see how many rate cuts the Fed expects to implement this year and next.
At 6:10 a.m. ET, futures linked to the blue-chip Dow rose 0.21%, while broad S&P 500 futures gained 0.27% and tech-laden Nasdaq futures added 0.35%.
