10 things you need to know before the opening bell
The Fed meets. At the conclusion of Wednesday's meeting, the US central bank is expected to keep its benchmark interest rate unchanged between 1% and 1.25% and announce the process for unwinding its massive balance sheet.
We're officially in the 2nd largest bull market since WWII. Stocks have climbed roughly 270% from their March 2009 low, eclipsing the bull run from June 1949 to August 1956, according to data from LPL Financial.
The bipartisan effort to fix Obamacare coallapses. "During the last month, we have worked hard and in good faith, but we have not found the necessary consensus among Republicans and Democrats to put a bill in the Senate leaders' hands that could be enacted," GOP Sen. Lamar Alexander said.
An Alibaba-backed company slashes its IPO range. Best, an initial public offering in Hong Kong backed by Alibaba, priced at $10, well below the $13 to $15 that was initially expected, Reuters says.
Best Buy gives a rough outlook. The big-box retailer forecast that its fiscal 2021 revenue would hit $32 billion, which comes out to just a 2.2% compound annual growth rate.
FedEx misses and lowers its outlook. The pacakage delivery giant missed on both the top and bottom lines and said it sees fiscal 2018 adjusted earnings in a range of $11.05 to $11.85, down from its previous estimate of $12.45 to $13.25.
Bed Bath & Beyond craters after missing big on earnings. Shares of the retailer fell more than 15% after announcing earnings of $0.67 a share on revenue of $2.94 billion, both well shy of estimates, as restructuring charges, Hurricane Harvey, and a new accounting standard weighed, Investing.com says.
Stock markets around the world trade mixed. Hong Kong's Hang Seng (+0.27%) paced the advance in Asia and France's CAC (-0.22%) trails in Europe. The S&P 500 is set to open higher by 0.15% near 2,506.
Earnings reporting is light. General Mills is set to announce its quartely results ahead of the opening bell.
US economic data trickles out. Existing home sales will be released at 10 a.m. ET. The US 10-year yield is down 2 basis points at 2.22%.