S&P 500 futures rose Wednesday ahead of the Federal Reserve’s interest rate decision and earnings reports from major tech companies. Futures linked to the broad market index were up 0.3%, while Nasdaq 100 futures advanced 0.8%. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures fell 27 points, or 0.1%. U.S.-listed shares of ASML jumped more than 5% after the semiconductor equipment giant reported record orders and issued strong 2026 guidance due to the artificial intelligence boom. Shares of storage infrastructure company Seagate Technology jumped more than 9% after its second-quarter earnings and revenue topped expectations, with CEO Dave Mosley citing strong demand for artificial intelligence data storage. Beyond those earnings, China has given approval to ByteDance, Alibaba and Tencent to buy Nvidia’s H200 AI chips, Reuters reported Wednesday. Nvidia shares rose roughly 2%, as did fellow semiconductor names Advanced Micro Devices and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing. On the flip side, the U.S. dollar came under slight pressure again Wednesday, a day after the currency saw its worst day since last April. Its one-year fall now stands at more than 10%. Tuesday’s move comes on the heels of President Donald Trump declining to say that the currency had gone too far in its fall, believing that it’s “doing great.” Later Wednesday, the Fed is widely expected to keep its benchmark interest rate steady at a target range of 3.5% to 3.75%, but traders will be seeking hints on longer-term changes to monetary policy. Fed funds futures trading suggests two quarter percentage point cuts by the end of 2026, according to the CME FedWatch Tool. “The current U.S. economic outlook remains positive, with ongoing growth and a labor market that, although somewhat soft, has stabilized. Inflation continues to run above the Fed’s target, leaving little justification for immediate rate cuts,” said Christian Hantel, portfolio manager at Vontobel Asset Management. “Instead, investors should look to the March and June FOMC meetings as potential opportunities for policy adjustments, though these could be pushed into the second half of 2026 if conditions warrant,” Hantel added. “All eyes will be on Chair [Jerome] Powell for any signals about the Fed’s openness to further easing, but for now, the central bank’s cautious, meeting-by-meeting approach seems set to continue.” Earnings from a slate of major technology companies are on deck. Microsoft, Meta Platforms and Tesla are set to post their quarterly financial results Wednesday after the closing bell. Apple will post its results on Thursday. The S&P 500 is coming off a winning session, rising 0.4% to an all-time high. The Nasdaq Composite gained 0.9%. The 30-stock Dow fell more than 400 points, weighed lower by a nearly 20% plunge in UnitedHealth. U.S. Treasury yields moved higher on Wednesday as investors keenly awaited the Federal Reserve’s interest rate decision. The 10-year Treasury yield was up more than 1 basis point to 4.241%, while the 2-year Treasury note yield was up less than a basis point at 3.573%. The 30-year Treasury yield rose more than 2 basis points to 4.863%. South Korea’s Kospi hit a second straight day of record highs Wednesday after U.S. President Donald Trump struck a conciliatory tone on his tariff threat against Seoul. “We will work something out with South Korea,” he reportedly said. The Kospi closed 1.69% higher at 5,170.81, while the Kosdaq jumped 4.7% to 1,133.52. Elsewhere, Asia-Pacific markets were mixed Wednesday. Japan’s Nikkei 225 veered into positive territory late in the session, climbing marginally to 53,358.71, but the Topix fell 0.79% to end at 3,535.49. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was up 2.58% in its final hour, led by energy stocks, while the CSI 300 index on mainland China rose 0.26% and closed at 4,717.99. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 reversed earlier gains and fell 0.13% to 8,929.9, snapping a three-day winning streak. Australia saw headline inflation come in at 3.6% in the last quarter of 2025, its highest level in six quarters. Oil prices hit their highest since late September on ‍Wednesday after a winter ‍storm disrupted U.S. crude output ‍while a weak U.S. dollar and continued Kazakh outages lent further support. At 1017 GMT, Brent crude futures had retrenched and were down 39 cents, or 0.6%, at $67.18 a barrel. U.S. West ‌Texas Intermediate ‌crude was down 22 cents, or 0.4%, at $62.17. Both ​benchmarks had climbed by about 3% on Tuesday. The U.S. dollar is hovering near four-year lows against a basket of other currencies, reflecting weakness that makes dollar-denominated commodities such as oil cheaper for those holding other currencies. Gold prices rose ⁠above $5,300 per ounce for the first time on Wednesday as weakening confidence in the U.S. dollar and concerns ‍around the independence of ‍the U.S. Federal Reserve boosted ‍demand for the safe-haven metal. Spot gold jumped 1.7% to $5,275.68 an ounce by 0940 GMT after scaling a record $5,311.31. Prices gained more than 3% in the previous session. U.S. gold futures ‌for February ‌delivery jumped by 3.7% to $5,271.70 an ounce. “Gold is ​rising not merely due to market anxiety, but also because confidence in the global monetary–fiscal order is shifting toward a more cautious stance,” said Linh Tran, senior market analyst at XS.com.