US stock indexes are drifting higher as Wall Street waits for an announcement from the Federal Reserve that could guide its direction into next year. The S&P 500 rose 0.2 percent to inch closer to its all-time high set earlier this month. The Dow Jones was up 173 points, or 0.4 percent, and the Nasdaq composite added 0.2 percent.The Australian sharemarket is set for a flat start, with futures at 5am AEDT pointing to a dip of 2 points at the open. The ASXOn Wall Street, Jabil jumped 9.
8 percent to help lead the market after reporting stronger profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected. The electronics company also raised its forecast for revenue for its full fiscal year. Nvidia, the superstar responsible for a chunk of Wall Street’s rally to records in recent years, climbed 3.9 percent following a weeks-long funk. It had dropped more than 12 percent from its record set last month and fallen in eight of the nine previous days as its big momentum slowed.On the losing side of Wall Street was General Mills, which dropped 3.2 percent despite reporting a stronger profit than expected. The maker of Progresso soups and Cheerios said it will increase its investments in brands to help them grow, which pushed it to cut its forecast for profit this fiscal year. Trading is likely to remain relatively quiet until the afternoon, when the expectation is for the Fed to deliver its third cut to interest rates of the year. After getting inflation nearly all the way down to its 2 percent target from more than 9 percent, the Fed has been easing its main interest rate off a two-decade high to offer support for the slowing job market. The big question is how much more the Fed will cut in 2025, and the hope is that Fed Chair Jerome Powell may give some signals in his press conference following the announcement on interest rates. Fed officials will also unveil projections for where they see interest rates and the economy heading in upcoming year