07:08 AM EST, 12/18/2024 (MT Newswires) -- US benchmark equity indexes were tracking in the green in Wednesday's premarket activity ahead of the Federal Reserve's policy decision on interest rates later in the day.

Standard & Poor's 500, the Nasdaq and the Dow Jones Industrial Average all increased 0.3% each before the opening bell. Asian exchanges were mixed to lower, while European bourses were pointing higher.

The Fed is due to announce its rate decision at 2 pm ET, with Chair Jerome Powell to hold a press conference at 2:30 pm. Markets are widely expecting the central bank to lower interest rates by 25 basis points, according to the CME FedWatch tool.

Also on Wednesday's economic calendar, the weekly mortgage applications bulletin is out at 7 am, followed by the housing starts and permits data for November and the third-quarter current account deficit report at 8:30 am. The Atlanta Fed Business Inflation Expectations report for this month posts at 10 am, while the weekly domestic petroleum inventories report is due at 10:30 am.

Shares of Heico ( HEI ) were down 5.2% pre-bell after the aerospace and electronics company reported fiscal fourth-quarter sales just below Wall Street's expectations. Worthington Enterprises ( WOR ) jumped 10% after the metals-fabricator reported better-than-expected fiscal second-quarter results.

General Mills ( GIS ) , Jabil ( JBL ) , Birkenstock ( BIRK ) , Toro (TTC) and ABM Industries ( ABM ) are set to release their latest financial results before the bell, among others. Micron Technology ( MU ) and Lennar ( LEN ) post earnings in the afterhours.

In the premarket, bitcoin declined 1.7% to $104,825, West Texas Intermediate crude oil inclined 0.6% to $70.53 a barrel, yields on 10-year Treasuries grew 2 basis points to 4.41% and gold edged up less than 0.1% to $2,663 an ounce.