07:15 AM EST, 01/08/2025 (MT Newswires) -- US benchmark equity indexes were tracking in the red in Wednesday's premarket activity as investors await minutes of the Federal Reserve's last policy meeting.

Standard & Poor's 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average decreased 0.1% each before the opening bell, while the Nasdaq was off 0.2%. Asian exchanges were mixed to lower, while European bourses were pointing lower midday on the continent.

The Fed is scheduled to post minutes of its December policy session at 2 pm ET, which will be parsed for clues on the overall policy posture of the central bank.

Wednesday's economic calendar also has the weekly mortgage applications bulletin at 7 am, followed by the ADP Employment Report for December at 8:15 am. The weekly jobless claims report is out at 8:30 am, while the preliminary wholesale inventories report for November posts at 10 am.

The weekly EIA domestic petroleum inventories and natural-gas supplies reports are slated to be released at 10:30 am and 12 pm, respectively. The Fed's consumer credit bulletin for November is due at 3 pm.

US markets will close on Thursday to mourn the passing of former President Jimmy Carter, reopening on Friday.

Albertsons ( ACI ) , Acuity Brands ( AYI ) , MSC Industrial Direct ( MSM ) , Simply Good Foods ( SMPL ) , Unifirst ( UNF ) and Helen of Troy (HELE) report their latest financial results before the bell, among others. Jefferies Financial Group ( JEF ) and Greenbrier (GBX) post earnings after markets close.

Shares of Moderna ( MRNA ) gained 1.6% pre-bell while Palantir Technologies ( PLTR ) fell 2.2%.

In pre-market activity, bitcoin dropped 1.3% to $95,103, West Texas Intermediate crude oil increased 0.6% to $74.66 a barrel, yields on 10-year Treasuries inclined 1.4 basis points to 4.7% and gold nudged down 0.1% to $2,664 an ounce.