Fed decision, Samsung, UK inflation - what's moving markets

investing.com:

Investing.com — The U.S. Federal Reserve concludes its policy-setting meeting later in the session, and this is keeping volatility low. Samsung has gained on reports it could be working with Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA), while U.K. inflation fell by more than expected the day before the Bank of England meets to discuss monetary policy.

The Federal Reserve concludes its latest two-day policy meeting later Wednesday, and investors will be closely following events in Washington DC for clues on future interest rate policy.

The U.S. central bank is widely expected to keep interest rates unchanged at today’s meeting, and thus its Chair Jerome Powell’s subsequent press conference and the bank’s new economic projections that will be in focus.

Earlier in March, Powell said the Fed was «not far» from gaining the confidence it needs in falling inflation to start easing rates.

However, last week's stronger-than-expected inflation reports have led market participants to reduce their bets on rate cuts this year, with traders now pricing in around 75 basis points of easing this year. At the start of the year, traders were pricing in 150 bps of cuts.

This brings the June Fed meeting firmly into the spotlight, with a Reuters poll showing last week that a strong majority of economists believe the Fed will cut its key interest rate then, although the likelihood has fallen close to 53% from a near 60% probability, according to CME's FedWatch tool. 

U.S. stock futures edged marginally lower Wednesday, handing back some of the previous session’s gains ahead of the Federal Reserve’s latest policy decision.

By 05:00 ET (09:00 GMT), the Dow futures contract was 10 points, or 0.1%, lower, S&P 500 futures had dipped by 7 points, or 0.1%, and Nasdaq 100