Dow and Nasdaq futures fall ahead of Fed meeting

Pre-open movers

U.S. equity futures traded lower on Tuesday in early pre-market trading after posting gains on Monday. The Dow Jones closed up around 197 points, while the Nasdaq Composite was up around 0.8% in the prior session.

The Federal Open Market Committee will begin its two-day policy meeting today. The US Federal Reserve will announce its policy decision on Wednesday, with markets expecting an interest rate hike of at least 75 basis points.

Housing starts and permits data for August will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. US housing starts are expected to slow to an annualized 1.440 million from 1.446 million the previous month. Permits are projected at 1.621 million from 1.685 million in July.

Investors are also awaiting earnings results from Apogee Enterprises, Inc. APOG and Stitch Fix, Inc. SFIX.

Watch this: US stocks fall to two-month low amid heightened volatility

Dow Jones Industrial Average futures fell 83 points to 31,034.00 while Standard & Poor's 500 Index futures fell 15 points to 3,902.25. Nasdaq index futures fell 67 points to 11,957.00.

Goods

Oil prices rose as Brent futures rose 1.1% to trade at $93.00 a barrel, while futures on US WTI crude rose 0.9% to trade at $86.45 a barrel. The API Crude Oil Inventories report will be released later today.

Gold futures fell 0.1% to trade at $1,676.70 an ounce, while silver traded lower 0.2% to $19.315 an ounce on Tuesday.

An overview of global markets

European markets

European markets were mostly down today. The STOXX Europe 600 index fell 0.3%, London's FTSE 100 rose 0.1% while Spain's IBEX 35 index fell 0.4%. The French CAC 40 index fell 0.4%, while the German DAX fell 0.3%.

The euro zone recorded a current account deficit of 10.1 billion euros in July, compared to a surplus of 36.8 billion euros the previous year. Spain's trade deficit increased to 6.56 billion euros in July from 1.60 billion euros the previous month. Annual producer inflation in Germany accelerated to a new record high of 45.8% in August, from 37.2% the previous month.

Asia-Pacific Markets

Asian markets rose today. Japan's Nikkei 225 gained 0.44%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index climbed 1.16% and China's Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.22%. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 1.3%, while India's S&P BSE SENDEX jumped 1.3%.

The Chinese central bank kept its key benchmark rates unchanged at the September fixing. Japan's annual inflation rate rose to 3.0% in August from 2.6% the previous month, while the core consumer price index rose 2.8% from a year ago in August.

Broker Recommendation

Wells Fargo has downgraded Huntsman Corporation HUN from overweight to equal weight.

Huntsman stock fell 2.1% to $25.25 in premarket trading.

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