Dow futures edge higher ahead of start of crucial Fed meeting

investing.com:

Investing.com — U.S. stock futures traded marginally higher Tuesday, as investors readied for the highly-anticipated two-day Federal Reserve policy meeting.

By 06:30 ET (10:30 GMT), the Dow Futures contract was up 50 points, or 0.2%, S&P 500 Futures traded 7 points, or 0.2%, higher and Nasdaq 100 Futures climbed 20 points, or 0.1%.

The U.S. Federal Reserve is set to start its latest meeting later in the session, and is widely expected to keep interest rates steady at a range of 5.25% to 5.50% when it concludes on Wednesday.

However, the central bank’s plans for the year of the year remain uncertain, especially after headline consumer prices last week recorded the biggest jump in 14 months while core prices decelerated to its slowest rate in almost two years.

Investors will hear from Fed Chair Jerome Powell at the accompanying press conference on Wednesday, where he could provide more context about the Fed's thinking heading into the fall.

Additionally, the Fed will provide its latest set of economic projections, and the year-end projection for inflation could provide clues about decisions likely to be made at the November and December policy meetings.

The main U.S. economic data due Tuesday comes from the real estate sector, with August housing starts and building permits both expected to be 1.44 million, small drops from the prior month.

Data from the U.S. of late has tended to point to a resilient economy, leading the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development to lift its forecasts for U.S. growth earlier Tuesday.

The Paris-based body said it now expected the U.S. economy to grow 2.2% this year rather than the 1.6% it forecast in June, and while it sees growth slowing to 1.3% next year, that was still