Futures Pointing To A Roughly Flat Open On Wall Street

(RTTNews) - With traders looking ahead to the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement, stocks may show a lack of direction in early trading on Wednesday. The major index futures are currently pointing to a roughly flat open for the markets, with the Dow futures up by just 2 points.

Traders are likely to remain on the sidelines in the lead-up to the announcement from the Fed, which is scheduled to be released at about 2 pm ET.

While the Fed is likely to leave interest rates unchanged, the central bank is widely expected to announce another $10 billion reduction in the pace of asset purchases to $35 billion per month.

The impact to the markets is more likely to stem from the language of the accompanying statement as well as any changes to the outlook for the economy and interest rates.

Not long after the announcement, Fed Chair Janet Yellen is scheduled to hold a press conference to discuss the decision.

Yellen may be more cautious than during her first post-meeting press conference, when she triggered a sell-off on Wall Street by suggesting that interest rates might be raised sooner than anticipated.