US Stock Futures Edge Lower; All Eyes On Fed Decision

Pre-open movers US stock futures traded lower in early pre-market trade. Data on housing starts for August, weekly jobless claims and current account for the second quarter will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. The Philly Fed index for September will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. The FOMC is scheduled to announce its policy decision at 2:00 p.m. ET, while the Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen will hold a press conference at 2:30 p.m. ET. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 22.5 points to 16,641.5, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index futures fell 3.50 points to 1,984.50. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index declined 5.75 points to 4,375.25. A Peek Into Global Markets European markets were mostly higher today, with the Spanish Ibex Index jumping 1.01 percent, STOXX Europe 600 Index falling 0.10 percent and German DAX 30 index gaining 0.19 percent. French CAC 40 Index jumped 0.09 percent and London's FTSE 100 Index fell 0.23 percent. In Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei Stock Average rose 1.43 percent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index declined 0.51 percent and China's Composite Index Index slipped 2.10 percent. Broker Recommendation Analysts at Jefferies upgraded NVIDIA Corporation NVDA from Hold to Buy and raised the price target from $23.00 to $30.00. NVIDIA shares rose 1.26 percent to $23.39 in pre-market trading. Breaking news

• ALTICE S A ATCEY and Cablevision Systems Corporation CVC today announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement for Altice to acquire Cablevision. To read the full news, click here.
• Oracle Corporation ORCL reported better-than-expected earnings for its fiscal first quarter, but the company's sales missed analysts' expectations. To read the full news, click here.
• The U.K. Ministry of Defence has awarded Lockheed Martin Corporation LMT a contract to support the Desert Hawk 3 programme and establish the small unmanned aerial system (UAS) as a Core Defence Capability. To read the full news, click here.
• Applied DNA Sciences Inc APDN signed a five-year exclusivity agreement with Patronus Systems Ltd, a company based in West Sussex, UK. To read the full news, click here.