Nasdaq futures jumped, leading Wall Street stocks higher on Wednesday as investors braced for the Federal Reserve’s latest policy decision and potentially pivotal earnings from megacap tech giants.

Contracts on the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 (NQ=F) surged about 1%, while those on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (YM=F) hovered just above the flat line. S&P 500 futures (ES=F) popped 0.4%, eyeing another record on the heels of an all-time closing high.

Attention now turns to Wednesday’s Fed announcement, the central bank’s first rate decision of the year. Policymakers are broadly expected to leave rates unchanged in a range of 3.5% to 3.75%, putting the spotlight on Chair Jerome Powell’s commentary for clues on the path ahead. Markets are currently pricing in two quarter-point rate cuts by the end of 2026, according to CME FedWatch.

The rate decision also comes amid a period of political tension for the central bank, as the Trump administration in recent weeks opened a criminal investigation against Powell over his Senate testimony about renovations of the central bank’s headquarters. Markets are also watching for President Trump to announce Powell's successor, which Trump has said could happen any day now.

The big week ahead holds more than the Fed, with earnings season ramping up with results from several heavyweight tech names. Microsoft (MSFT), Meta Platforms (META), and Tesla (TSLA) are scheduled to report after the market closes Wednesday, while Apple (AAPL) is set to release its quarterly results on Thursday.

The FT reports:

Elon Musk has proposed timing SpaceX’s initial public offering to coincide with a rare planetary alignment and his birthday, as the world’s richest man seeks an auspicious date for what would be the largest listing in history.

The rocket maker is targeting mid-June for its IPO when Jupiter and Venus will appear very close together, known as a conjunction, for the first time in more than three years, said five people familiar with the matter.

SpaceX is seeking to raise as much as $50bn at a valuation of roughly $1.5tn, the people added, which would make it the largest IPO in history and far exceed the $29bn raised by Saudi Aramco in 2019. They cautioned that all figures remain preliminary and may change.

Read more here.

Bloomberg reports:

Texas Instruments Inc. (TXN) soared over 8 in late trading after giving a surprisingly robust forecast for the first quarter, indicating that demand for industrial equipment and vehicles is recovering from a rough patch.

Revenue will be $4.32 billion to $4.68 billion in the first quarter, the company said in a statement Tuesday. The midpoint of that range exceeded the average estimate of $4.42 billion. Profit in the period will be as much as $1.48 a share, compared with a projection of $1.26

The upbeat outlook signals that customers have worked through a backlog of inventory and are starting to make purchases again. Chief Executive Officer Haviv Ilan, who runs the largest maker of analog chips, said that orders improved through the fourth quarter.

Read more here.