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Stock futures mixed ahead of Fed rate hike decision, Bill Gates says AI most important technology since 1980s, Home prices fall, ending a decade-long streak, and more financial news.
Stock futures were mixed early on Wednesday as investors waited for an announcement from the Federal Reserve on interest rate hikes, Yahoo Finance reported.
S&P 500 futures were down -0.25 points or -0.10%, Dow Jones futures were up 21.4+0.06%, and NASDAQ futures were down -13.75 points or -0.11% as of 9:12 AM EDT.
The benchmark US 10-Year Treasury advanced +0.028 to yield 3.634%, while the 2-Year Treasury was up +0.058 for a yield of 4.237% as of 9:20 AM EDT.
In oil futures, WTI crude was up +0.6% and trading at $70.06 a barrel, while the benchmark Brent crude was up +0.54% and trading at $75.73 a barrel as of 8:22 AM CDT.
If the Federal Reserve decides to raise interest rates, it will do so at 2 PM EDT on Wednesday, USA Today reports.
At the Fed’s March meeting earlier this month, Powell signaled the central bank would likely raise interest rates by as much as 50 basis points to curb stubborn inflation.
However, as the Fed is caught between trying to deal with a banking crisis while balancing inflation, some analysts believe the Fed will only raise interest rates by another 0.25%. If so, that would bring the benchmark interest rate to a range of around 4.75%-5%, the highest since 2006, Yahoo Finance reported.
Whatever move the central bank makes, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell has scheduled a press conference at 2:30 PM EDT to explain the Fed’s decision.
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates says that OpenAI’s GPT AI model is the most important and revolutionary advance in technology since the modern graphical desktop in 1980, CNBC reported.
“The development of AI is as fundamental as the creation of the microprocessor, the personal computer, the Internet, and the mobile phone,” Gates said. “Entire industries will reorient around it. Businesses will distinguish themselves by how well they use it.”
“It will be able to do everything that a human brain can, but without any practical limits on the size of its memory or the speed at which it operates,” Gates predicted, Yahoo reported. “This will be a profound change.”
On a national basis, the median price of a home in the US fell year-over-year in February, bringing an end to more than a decade of year-over-year increases, according to a report released by the National Association of Realtors on Tuesday, CNN reported.
The median price of an existing home in the US fell to $363,000 in February, down 0.2% year-over-year, the first annual decline since February 2012.
Regionally, in areas where housing is more expensive, the West was down 5.6% year-over-year, while the Northeast was down 4.5%. However, in the Midwest, prices were up 5%, as well as in the South at 2.7%.
