06:50 AM EDT, 03/19/2024 (MT Newswires) -- US equity futures were tracking in the red before Tuesday's open ahead of the Federal Reserve's two-day monetary policy meeting.

Standard & Poor's 500 futures decreased 0.2%, the Nasdaq was off 0.3% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average nudged down 0.1% in premarket trading. Asian exchanges were mixed to lower while European bourses were mostly trending higher.

The Fed's monetary policy-setting committee is set to meet Tuesday with a decision on interest rates Wednesday. There is a 99% chance the central bank will hold its key rate steady, according to the CME FedWatch Tool.

On the thin economic calendar, the housing starts and permits for February posts at 8:30 am ET.

Fusion Pharmaceuticals' (FUSN) US-listed shares surged 95% pre-bell after the Canadian clinical-stage oncology company was acquired by UK drugmaker AstraZeneca (AZN) for up to $2.4 billion. Nvidia (NVDA) edged down 0.6% following its developer's conference.

Tencent Music Entertainment (TME), Core & Main (CNM), XPeng (XPEV) and Caleres (CAL) report their latest financial results before the bell, among others. HealthEquity (HQY) posts earnings in the afterhours.

Before the opening bell, bitcoin slipped 5.9% to $63,241, West Texas Intermediate crude ticked down 0.3% to $82.47 a barrel, yields on 10-year Treasuries dipped 2.4 basis points to 4.32% and gold moved 0.4% lower to $2,157 an ounce.