U.S. stock-index futures maintained losses as housing starts

[UKIPA Holdings, LLC]

U.S. stock-index futures maintained losses as housing starts last month fell the most in four years before a Federal Reserve decision on interest rates. Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index expiring in June fell 0.2 percent to 2,064 at 8:35 a.m. in New York, after equities Monday posted the biggest rally in more than a month. The S&P 500 has lost 1.7 percent from its March 2 record as concerns mounted that the surging dollar will hurt corporate earnings. Fed officials will assess the economy and debate the timing of the first interest-rate increase since 2006 at a two-day meeting starting today. The Fed may remove wording describing its stance to raising rates as “patient.” “The big question now is what Yellen will say after the Fed meeting,” said Heinz-Gerd Sonnenschein, a strategist at Deutsche Postbank AG in Bonn, Germany. “It’s difficult to predict this time -- the economy is pretty strong, but slightly less so than people had hoped. The Fed’s view on this will be the short-term trigger for the market.

We’ll have to get used to more volatility.” Speculation that a strengthening economy is pushing the central bank closer to a rate increase has weighed on U.S. equities, making them among the worst-performing developed markets this year. Fed stimulus helped spur a six-year bull market that made the S&P 500 more than triple since a low in in 2009.

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www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-03-17/u-s-index-futures-are-little-changed-before-fed-housing-data