New York, Mar 22 (AP) Stocks are holding steady as Wall Street bides its time until the Federal Reserve announces whether it will tighten the screws further on the economy.

The S and P 500 was 0.1 per cent lower early Wednesday. It's coming off its first back-to-back gain in two weeks, before the second- and third-largest US bank failures in history threw the industry into turmoil.

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A few weeks ago, much of Wall Street was convinced the Fed would pick up the pace on its hikes to interest rates given how stubbornly high inflation has remained. With banks straining under higher rates, that's not as certain anymore.

Wall Street quietly drifted between small gains and losses early Wednesday ahead of a closely-watched decision by the Federal Reserve on whether to raise interest rates in the midst of a global banking crisis.

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Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials inched less than 0.1 per cent higher, while futures for the S and P 500 were essentially flat.

Tuesday on Wall Street, the S and P 500 rose 1.3 per cent to lock in its first back-to-back gain since Silicon Valley Bank's rapid failure began two weeks ago. Some of Wall Street's fears over the banking sector were calmed by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen's assurance that the government could provide more assistance to lenders if needed.

Investors are awaiting an interest rate decision by the Federal Reserve, which is expected to temper its efforts to tame inflation given the recent turmoil that has wracked the banking sector.

Most economists expect the Fed to announce a relatively modest quarter-point hike in its benchmark rate, its ninth hike since March of last year.

“Equity markets are treading water this morning ahead of the Fed rate decision and following a decent rebound a day earlier,” Craig Erlam of Oanda said in a commentary. “It very much feels like we're just taking one day at a time at the minute.”

Britain's consumer inflation rate jumped to 10.5 per cent in February from 10 per cent the month before in a sign that price pressures persist, surprising analysts and adding pressure on the Bank of England to raise interest rates at its meeting on Thursday.

In London, the FTSE 100 was unchanged, Germany's DAX gained 0.5 per cent and the CAC 40 in Paris rose 0.3 per cent.

Markets around the world have pinballed sharply this month on worries the banking system may be cracking under the pressure of the fastest set of hikes to interest rates in decades.

In Asian trading, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 surged 1.9 per cent to 27,466.61, catching up on gains after the market was closed on Tuesday for a holiday. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index advanced 1.7 per cent to 19,591.43 and the Shanghai Composite index added 0.9 per cent to 3,265.75.

Australia's S and P/ASX 200 jumped 0.9 per cent to 7,015.60. The Kospi in South Korea climbed 1.2 per cent to 2,416.96.

In equities trading on Wednesday, meme stocks were rising before the opening bell. GameStop, one of the most heavily traded off-brand stocks during the pandemic, surged 47 per cent after the video game retailer posted a surprise profit for the fourth quarter.

Other so-called meme stocks followed GameStop higher, though with more modest gains. AMC Entertainment Holdings rose nearly 6 per cent while Bed Bath and Beyond climbed 8.5 per cent.

Tuesday the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1 per cent, while the Nasdaq composite jumped 1.6 per cent.

Yellen told a bankers' group more government assistance “could be warranted” if risks arise that could bring down the system. That could mean making sure customers at a weakened bank get all their money, even those with more than the USD 250,000 limit insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

Earlier this month, the US government said it would make all depositors at Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank whole after their depositors rushed to pull their money out en masse, causing the second- and third-largest US bank failures in history.

Investors have since been on the lookout for others that might fall. Much focus has been on First Republic Bank, whose stock had lost 90 per cent for the month through Monday but jumped 29.5 per cent on Tuesday. It was down 6 per cent in premarket trading.

Hopes for the banking industry began to turn over the weekend after regulators pushed together two huge Swiss banks. Shares of both banks rose Tuesday in Switzerland, including a 12.1 per cent jump for acquirer UBS. Credit Suisse, meanwhile, rose 7.3 per cent after tumbling a day earlier.

In other trading Wednesday, US benchmark crude oil lost 17 cents to USD 69.50 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It jumped USD 1.85 to USD 69.67 on Tuesday.

Brent crude, the pricing basis for international oils, gave up 12 cents to USD 75.20 per barrel.

The dollar rose to 132.90 Japanese yen from 132.47 yen. The euro gained to USD 1.0796 from USD 1.0770. (AP)

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)