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FOMC Decision & Powell Comments Dominate Trading Day
Tom White
September 17, 2025
U.S. stock futures are relatively flat in premarket trading as investors await the Fed’s decision on interest rates this afternoon.
Traders have priced in a 96% chance that the Fed will cut rates by 25 basis points according to the CME FedWatch tool.
The FOMC will also give more insight into their outlook for rates over the next year or so in the closely-watched “dot plot” grid that accompanies their quarterly Summary of Economic Projections.
Morning Movers
Snapshot (as of 7 AM ET)
Oil (/CL) – Oil prices are down 0.7% near $64 a barrel, after rising more than 1% in the previous session on drone attacks on Russian ports and refineries, while traders awaited an expected rate cut from the U.S. Federal Reserve.
Gold (/GC) – Gold futures are down 0.6% near $3,700 due to a slight uptick in the dollar and profit-taking after bullion hit another record high on Tuesday on expectations of a Federal Reserve interest rate cut.
Bitcoin (/BTC) – The Crypto Future is down 0.4% near 116,500 in premarket trading.
VIX – The CBOE Volatility Index was up 4% on Tuesday and settled at 16.36 as stocks fell slightly off of highs.
U.S. Dollar (/DX) – The dollar is slightly higher at 96.4.
Biggest Premarket Movers
Symbol | Product | Mark % Change (as of 7 AM ET) |
|---|---|---|
WDAY | Workday | +7.99% |
CPRT | Copart | +1.16% |
NFLX | Netflix | +1.04% |
AMD | AMD | -1.65% |
NEM | Newmont | -1.61% |
WBD | Warner Bros. Discovery | -1.45% |
Economic Data
Time | Event |
|---|---|
7:00AM ET | MBA Mortgage Applications |
8:30AM ET | Housing Starts & Permits |
10:00AM ET | Atlanta Fed Business Inflation Expectations |
10:30AM ET | Oil Inventories |
2:00PM ET | FOMC Announcement |
2:30PM ET | Fed Chair Powell Presser |
Notable Earnings
Premarket | Postmarket | Premarket Tomorrow | Postmarket Tomorrow |
|---|---|---|---|
GIS, MANU | CBRL | DRI, FDS | FDX, LEN, SCHL |
Upgrades/Downgrades
Loop Capital upgrades Netflix (NFLX) to Buy from Hold
Piper Sandler upgrades Workday (WDAY) to Neutral from Underweight
Berenberg upgrades AbbVie (ABBV) to Buy from Hold
Evercore downgrades FedEx (FDX) to In Line from Outperform
Berenberg downgrades Eli Lilly (LLY) to Hold from Buy
BMO Capital downgrades Progressive (PGR) to Market Perform from Outperform
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