07:23 AM EST, 12/19/2024 (MT Newswires) -- The benchmark US stock measures were pointing higher before the opening bell Thursday as traders digest the Federal Reserve's decision to reduce its policy rate by 25 basis points.

Standard & Poor's 500 increased 0.5% while the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq added 0.4% each in premarket activity. Asian exchanges and European bourses were tracking in the red.

The central bank's Federal Open Market Committee on Wednesday reduced interest rates to a range of 4.25% to 4.50% in line with Wall Street's expectations. The FOMC also flagged fewer rate cuts ahead than previously projected.

On Thursday's economic calendar, the third and final estimate of third-quarter gross domestic product, the weekly jobless claims bulletin, the Philadelphia Fed's manufacturing index for December and revised third-quarter corporate profits all post at 8:30 am ET.

The existing home sales report and the leading indicators index, both for November, are out at 10 am, followed by the weekly EIA domestic natural-gas supplies report at 10:30 am. The Kansas City Fed Manufacturing Index for this month is slated for an 11 am release.

Shares of Micron Technology ( MU ) tumbled 14% pre-bell as the memory and storage product maker issued a weak second-quarter outlook. Lennar ( LEN ) dropped 10% as the homebuilder recorded lower-than-expected fiscal fourth-quarter results.

Accenture ( ACN ) , Cintas ( CTAS ) , Paychex ( PAYX ) , Darden Restaurants ( DRI ) , FactSet Research Systems ( FDS ) , ConAgra Brands ( CAG ) , CarMax ( KMX ) and Lamb Weston ( LW ) report their latest financial results before the bell, among others. Nike ( NKE ) , FedEx ( FDX ) and BlackBerry (BB) post earnings after markets close.

Before the opening bell, bitcoin rose 1.1% to $102,313, West Texas Intermediate crude oil slipped 0.1% to $70.51 a barrel, yields on 10-year Treasuries advanced 3.2 basis points to 4.53% and gold fell 0.8% to $2,631 an ounce.