(Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor) - Milano, 18 mar - US futures were lower as investors digested hotter-than-expected inflation data ahead of the Federal Reserve's latest decision on interest rates.

Wall Street ended higher yesterday to post its second straight day of gains. The Dow closed up 0.1%, the S&P 500 rose 0.3% while the tech heavy Nasdaq added 0.5%.

The Fed is widely expected to keep rates on hold later today in what will be Jerome Powell's penultimate monetary meeting before his mandate as chair expires.

With energy prices rising due to the war in Iran, investors fear the US central bank may opt to keep rates on hold for longer than expected to head off inflation.

In data today, wholesale prices for February rose higher than expected, pointing to ongoing pricing pressure.

On the stocks front, chip maker shares were boosted premarket by news Nvidia has restarted making its H200 processors for sale in China while shares in Macy's jumped 8% after it said sales were lifted by its Bloomingdale's brand.

Futures on the Dow Jones were down 55.00 points, or 0.12%, S&P 500 futures were down 9.00 points, or 0.13%, while.

futures on the Nasdaq were down 27.25 points, or 0.11%.

(RADIOCOR) 18-03-26 14:02:58 (0372) 5 NNNN