Wall Street to make cautiously mixed start ahead of the Fed

Wall Street looks like it is playing things cautiously ahead of the outcome of the latest Federal Reserve meeting. As well as continuing concerns about inflation - which could either be eased or exacerbated by the Fed's comments later - investors are worried about the rising number of Delta variant cases and the repercussions of China's latest clampdown on tech and other private sector businesses. On the plus side are the growing signs of economic recovery as evidenced by a number of upbeat second quarter statements from major companies. So the Dow Jones Industrial Average is set to open down 43 points or 0.14%, while the S&P 500 is virtually flat and the Nasdaq Composite is indicated up 0.24%. The record profit announced by Google parent Alphabet after the market closed on Tuesday seem to have been well received, with its shares up 3.9% in pretrading. But Apple has lost nearly 1% after it hinted that its rate of growth could slow. Pfizer meanwhile has slipped 0.59% despite just now reporting results ahead of expectations. Four things to watch for on Wednesday: Another big day of earnings in the diary, which aside from Facebook also includes announcements from PayPal Inc, Shopify Inc, McDonald’s Corp and QUALCOMM Inc Shares in Apple Inc, Microsoft Corp and Google owner Alphabet Inc will be in focus after quarterly results reported after Tuesday’s close Language learning app Duolingo is making its debut on the Nasdaq on Wednesday morning after pricing its IPO at US$102 per share, above its previously expected range of US$95-US$100 On the macro front, aside from the action at the Fed there may also be interest in the latest US trade balance as well as wholesale inventory data