Wall St set to open slightly higher ahead of Fed's economic outlook

Wall Street's main indexes were set to open slightly higher on Wednesday as focus shifted to a Federal Reserve meeting that will deliver the central bank's first projections on the economy post-coronavirus outbreak.

Investors will also look for clues on how long the central bank plans to maintain its ultra loose policy to support the economy and if it would introduce yield curve control measures after a recent jump in US Treasury yields.

"The economic projections will be particularly instructive in the context of whether Fed policymakers believe a V-shaped recovery is likely, and whether they think the worst is behind the US economy," said Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK.

Prospects of an economic rebound, backed by upbeat data, have boosted stocks in recent weeks, with the Nasdaq closing at a record high for a second straight session on Tuesday.

The S&P 500 is about 5pc away its all-time peak.

At 8:26 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 47 points, or 0.17pc. S&P 500 e-minis were up 10.5 points, or 0.33pc and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 78.75 points, or 0.79pc.

Apple Inc rose 1.2pc in premarket trading as two brokerages hiked their price targets on the iPhone maker's shares.

AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc rose about 15.5pc after the world's largest theater operator said it expects to reopen its theaters globally in July.

Oil majors Exxon Mobil Corp and Chevron Corp dropped about 1.2pc, as oil prices weakened after a rise in US crude inventories raised concerns of oversupply.

Carriers American Airlines Inc and United Airlines Holdings dropped 3.3pc and 5.6pc, respectively, as J.P.Morgan analysts said the current pace of rise in US airline stocks cannot be maintained for much longer.