08:17 AM EDT, 05/01/2024 (MT Newswires) -- US stock futures are trending lower in Wednesday's premarket session as investors await the Federal Reserve's rate policy decision this afternoon.

Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were off 0.24%, S&P 500 futures were down 0.47%, and Nasdaq futures were moving 0.74% lower.

Oil prices were moving sharply lower, with front-month global benchmarks Brent crude and West Texas Intermediate crude falling 1.64% and 1.88% respectively.

The Federal Reserve's Federal Open Market Committee, which will announce its decision on interest rates at 2:00 pm ET, is expected to keep rates unchanged at 5.25%-5.50%.

The ADP National Employment Report, which tracks the monthly change in non-farm, private employment will be released at 8:15 am ET. The consensus forecast for April is for employment figures to drop to 179,00 from 184,000 in March.

The manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index for April, which measures activity in the manufacturing sector and is slated for release at 9:45 am ET, is expected to fall into contraction territory and decline to 49.9 for April from 51.9 in March.

Plutonian Acquisition ( PLTN ) shares jumped 32% in Wednesday's premarket activity after it said Tuesday that its shareholders approved a business combination with Big Tree Cloud Merger Sub II Inc. Shares of Root (ROOT) advanced 23% a day after it reported higher Q1 revenue and a narrower loss per share from a year earlier. And shares of Predictive Oncology ( POAI ) climbed 21% after it reported a partnership deal Tuesday with FluGen to introduce an intranasal flu vaccine.

On the losing side, shares of CVRx ( CVRX ) plunged 30% after it reported Q1 revenue late Tuesday that missed analyst forecasts. Skyworks Solutions ( SWKS ) shares fell more than 14% after multiple research firms lowered their price target on the stock, and shares of Super Micro Computer ( SMCI ) shares dropped 13% after it reported fiscal Q3 revenue that fell short of Street expectations.