Stocks Are Higher Ahead Of The Fed

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We are waiting for the Fed. 

The Federal Reserve is set to announce its last monetary policy decision of the year at 2:00 pm ET on Wednesday, with Fed Chair Janet Yellen set to hold a press conference at 2:30.

Ahead of this decision, US stocks are higher, with the Dow up 150 points, the S&P 500 up 23 points, and the Nasdaq up 45 points.

US Treasury yields were also climbing a bit ahead of the Fed, with the 10-year rising to 2.1% and the 30-year rising to 2.73%. Both of these, however, are still near lows of the year.

On Wednesday morning, we got inflation data that showed consumer prices fell 0.3% month-on-month in November, the most since December 2008.

Gas prices fell 6.6% in November, which is also the most since December 2008. 

Year-on-year consumer prices rose 1.3%, or 1.7% when excluding the cost of food and energy; the Fed targets 2% inflation. 

In addition to the policy statement on Wednesday, we will also get the latest Summary of Economic Projections from the Fed, which will show the FOMC's GDP, inflation, and interest rate outlooks. 

You can read our full Fed preview here, catch up on how things have changed since Yellen last spoke here, and of course we'll be here covering all of the Fed news live this afternoon.