S&P 500 futures rose Thursday following a dismal day for the major averages after the Federal Reserve held steady on rates but signaled that a March cut is unlikely. Futures linked to the broad-market index and Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.5% and 0.6%, respectively. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were higher by 69 points, or 0.1%. Qualcomm shares dipped 2% even after the chipmaker reported fiscal first-quarter results that topped earnings and revenue estimates, citing strength in handset chips sales. Wall Street is coming off a poor session. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 317 points, or 0.8%, posting its worst day since December. The S&P 500 slid 1.6% in its worst day since September. The Nasdaq Composite lost 2.2%, its worst session since October. Those losses come after Fed Chair Jerome Powell in his post-meeting conference discouraged investor hopes for a rate cut as soon as March, sending equities tumbling. “I think what he told us today was you haven’t been listening,” Liz Young, head of investment strategy at SoFi, said on CNBC’s “Closing Bell.” “I think he’s been pretty clear from the jump, from the beginning of this hiking cycle, that they would rather stay too high for a little bit too long, than cut too early,” she added. “He has not changed his tune on that. The market continued to try to bully him into a different position. And today, he said, ‘I will not be bullied. We call the shots.’” Still, the major averages closed out January on a positive note, with each of the major indexes up more than 1% for the month. On the economic front, investors will turn their attention to weekly jobless claims, the ISM manufacturing index and construction spending reports on Thursday. The January jobs report is set to release Friday. Merck, Peloton Interactive and Royal Caribbean are reporting their latest results Thursday before the open. Mega-cap tech stocks Amazon, Apple and Meta Platforms report after the close. U.S. Treasury yields were mixed Thursday as investors digested the latest interest rate decision from the Federal Reserve and clues about the path ahead for rate cuts. The yield on the 10-year Treasury was down by 3 basis points at 3.936%, remaining below the 4% mark it had fallen under on Wednesday. The 2-year Treasury was last flat at 4.231%. Hong Kong and Korea shares traded higher while Japan equity benchmarks were underperformers in Thursday trade. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 closed down 1.2% at 7,588.2 to snap an eight-day winning streak, also retreating from an all-time high. Japan’s Nikkei 225 was down 0.76%, ending at 36,011.46, while the Topix slipped 0.67% to retreat from a 34-year high and finish at 2,534.04. In South Korea, the Kospi climbed 1.82% to close at 2,542.46, while the small-cap Kosdaq fell marginally to 798.73, its lowest level since November. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was up 0.33%, while China’s CSI 300 rose marginally to 3,217.71, rebounding off near 5-year lows. Oil prices posted the first monthly gain since September as the U.S. and Iran stand on the brink of a more direct confrontation in the Middle East. U.S. crude and the global benchmark Brent rose 5.86% and 6.06% in January, though prices fell Wednesday after China factory activity contracted for the fourth consecutive month. The West Texas Intermediate contract for March fell $1.97, or 2.53%, to settle at $75.85 a barrel. The Brent contract for March settled at $81.71 a barrel, down $1.16 or 1.40%. Gold prices steadied on Thursday, weighed by a stronger dollar after the Federal Reserve resisted the idea of a rate cut in March, but bullion held its ground as investors continued to cling to the hope that interest rates would be trimmed later this year. Spot gold was flat at $2,034.50 per ounce by 1046 GMT. U.S. gold futures fell 0.6% to $2,054.30.