Stock futures decline following solid rallies

The Federal Reserve begins its two-day policy meeting on Tuesday

U.S. equity futures are pointing to a lower open, the day after the Nasdaq set its first closing record since February.

The major futures indexes are indicating a loss of 1.1 percent when trading begins on Wall Street.

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The Federal Reserve begins its two-day policy meeting on Tuesday, with Chairman Jerome Powell's press conference scheduled for Wednesday.

The Fed has already promised unprecedented amounts of support to keep markets running smoothly during the coronavirus pandemic.

FED EXPANDS MAIN STREET LENDING PROGRAM TO ALLOW SMALLER, BIGGER LOANS

In Asian markets on Tuesday, Japan's Nikkei lost 0.4 percent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng jumped 1.1 percent, while the Shanghai Composite index gained 0.6 percent.

In Europe, London's FTSE is down 1.8 percent, Germany's DAX dropped 2.1 percent and France's CAC is off 2.1 percent.

On Wall Street, the broader S&P 500 is within 4.5 percent of its own record as optimism grows that the worst of the recession may have already passed.

Ticker Security Last Change Change %
I:DJI DOW JONES AVERAGES 44782 -128.65 -0.29%
SP500 S&P 500 6047.15 +14.77 +0.24%
I:COMP NASDAQ COMPOSITE INDEX 19403.947849 +185.78 +0.97%

The S&P 500 rose 1.2 percent and the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.7 percent.

The Nasdaq composite, which is more heavily weighted to the big technology stocks that held up the best earlier this year, gained 1.1 percent to 9,924.74.

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Benchmark U.S. crude oil is down more than 2 percent, or 80 cents to $37.39 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It fell $1.36 to $38.19 a barrel on Monday. Brent crude oil is down 1.7 percent, or 70 cents to $40.11 a barrel.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.