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U.S. stock index futures pointed to a slightly higher open on Wall Street on Wednesday as investors turned their attention away from the G20 Summit and the euro zone crisis and concentrated instead on domestic concerns.
Those domestic concerns largely centered around whether the Federal Reserve , which concludes its two-day, monthly policy meeting on Wednesday, would restart its government asset swap program known as “Operation Twist” in order to help provide greater liquidity to the U.S. economy.
Signs that the economy has been slowing in response to the euro zone crisis, plus various policy speeches from different members of the Fed’s governing council in the last few weeks, have suggested the arguments for and against restarting Operation Twist are likely to be finely balanced.
The Fed makes its announcement at 12:30 a.m. New York time. Interest rates are unlikely to change.
Historically speaking, Fed meeting days have been positive for the market, at least since the dawn of the financial crisis in 2008.
The Standard & Poor's 500 has gained an average 0.74 percent on Fed meeting days since the central bank began its zero interest rate policy.
The only other economic report due out on Wednesday is the weekly read of the housing market from the Mortgage Banker’s Association (MBA) for the week ending May 16.
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