us index futures point to a modestly higher open on wednesday as traders position themselves for the fed rate decision due in the afternoon the major averages declined tuesday but closed off the lows of the session amid fed jitters the selling was across the board with real estate materials consumer discretionary and communications stocks seeing marked weakness with tuesday’s retreat the major averages pulled back to their lowest levels in over two months in premarket trading on wednesday the spdr sp 500 etf trust spy was rising 023 to 38496 and the invesco qqq trust qqq was moving up 007 to 28893 according to benzinga pro data on the economic front the federal open market committee the policysetting arm of the federal reserve will announce its fed funds rate decision at 2 pm edt economists widely expect the central bank to raise rates by 75 basis points to 3325 fed chair jerome powell will host a press conference at 230 pm edt to explain away the thinking that went into the rate decision brad mcmillan chief investment officer for commonwealth financial network expects a softer emphasis on data dependence for coming meetings while this will still remain objectively a hawkish stance it will likely be interpreted as more dovish compared to current expectations which could be good for markets he said ahead of the fed decision the national association of realtors will release the existing home sales report for august at 10 am edt the consensus estimate calls for a 13 monthovermonth decline steeper than the 59 drop in july see also analyst sp 500 breaks below key technical support level as it enters its most bearish period of the year   mineral exploration company ivanhoe electric inc is advancing after it provided a positive update on its tintic coppergold project in utah other miners including comstock inc  were also gaining   micron technology inc was slipping after wells fargo lowered its price target on the shares from 90 to 75 crude oil futures are climbing after tuesday’s 149 retreat a barrel of wti crude oil is currently at 8598 up 243 the us dollar is seen modestly stronger against its major counterparts ahead of the fed decision the major asian markets fell across the board on wednesday tracking the negative lead from wall street overnight with traders preferring to stay on the sidelines ahead of the us rate decision in europe stocks were showing tentativeness although the uk market was seen advancing moderately