09:10 AM EDT, 03/17/2025 (MT Newswires) -- US equity futures were mixed ahead of Monday's opening bell as investors eyed the Federal Reserve's interest rate decision due for release later in the week.

Dow Jones Industrial Average futures fell 0.1%, S&P 500 futures gained 0.1%, and Nasdaq futures gained 0.3%.

The policy setting Federal Open Market Committee is scheduled to begin its two-day meeting Tuesday, which will end with a rate announcement at 2 pm ET Wednesday.

Oil prices were higher, with front-month global benchmark North Sea Brent crude up 1.3% at $71.48 per barrel and US West Texas Intermediate crude 1.3% higher at $68.08 per barrel.

US retail sales, released at 8:30 am ET, rose by 0.2% in February following a 1.2% drop in January, compared with estimates compiled by Bloomberg for a 0.6% gain. The Empire State Manufacturing index came in at minus 20.0 in March versus February's 5.7 level and estimates for minus 1.9.

Forecasters are expecting a 0.3% increase in business inventories, due at 10 am ET, for January. The US housing market index is expected to come in flat in March at 42.0.

In other world markets, Japan's Nikkei closed 0.9% higher, Hong Kong's Hang Seng ended 0.8% higher, and China's Shanghai Composite finished 0.2% higher. Meanwhile, UK's FTSE 100 gained 1.1%, Germany's DAX index increased 0.3%, France's CAC 40 gained 0.5% and Spain's IBEX 35 rose 0.7% in Europe's early afternoon session.

In equities, shares of Baidu ( BIDU ) were 1.8% higher after the company launched its new artificial intelligence models ERNIE 4.5 and ERNIE X1.

On the losing side, Incyte ( INCY ) stock was down nearly 13% after closing flat in the previous session.