US Equity Futures Mixed as Middle East Hostilities Resume, Oil Prices Rise

US equity futures were mixed pre-bell Wednesday as hostilities between the US and Iran resumed after a two-day pause and oil prices jumped.

Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were 0.3% lower, S&P 500 futures were up 0.2%, and Nasdaq futures were 0.2% higher.

US Central Command said in a post on X that Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps launched missiles in an "attempted surprise attack" on US forces, which an Axios correspondent said was directed at a US base in Jordan. In a subsequent post, the command said that US and Saudi Arabian forces hit "Iran-aligned terrorists" in Iraq in response to more than 30 Iran-directed drone attacks in the last 72 hours.

Microsoft (MSFT) and Meta Platforms (META) are expected to report their fiscal Q4 and Q2 earnings, respectively, after the market closes. For Microsoft, analysts polled by FactSet expect earnings of $4.24 per share on revenue of $87.62 billion. For Meta, analysts expect earnings of $7.19 per share on revenue of $60.22 billion.

Oil prices were higher, with front-month global benchmark North Sea Brent crude up 4.1% at $85.43 per barrel and US West Texas Intermediate crude 4.3% higher at $82.69 per barrel.

The Federal Open Market Committee is expected to maintain the range for its federal funds rate at the current 3.50% to 3.75% for the fifth straight meeting, with the CME's FedWatch Tool seeing a 68.5% chance of no change to the current target range and a 31.5% chance of a 25-basis point increase to 3.75% to 4.00%.

The FOMC's statement following the meeting is due to be released at 2:00 pm ET, with Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh's press conference scheduled to begin at 2:30 pm ET.