U.S. stocks were higher on Wednesday, as the Dow Jones, S&P 500, and Nasdaq 100 index futures rose, following Tuesday's higher close.<br /><br />The U.S. advance international trade deficit in goods widened to $134.9 billion in September 2026, marking a $2.8 billion increase from August. Alongside the trade data, advance estimates for September showed wholesale inventories rising 0.6% to $1,011.5 billion, while retail inventories increased 0.3% to $885.3 billion.<br /><br />Investors will watch the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee’s interest rate decision and the monetary policy report later today, with the FOMC press conference scheduled at 2:30 p.m. ET. The CME Group’s FedWatch tool projections show markets pricing in a 90.6% likelihood of interest rates being unchanged.<br /><br />President Donald Trump said he plans to ban the term “artificial intelligence” from relevant government documents and urged the use of “super intelligence” instead, prompting Rep. Ted Lieu to argue that renaming the technology will not address oversight concerns.<br /><br />The U.S. military has spent over $47 billion so far to prosecute the war in Iran, according to Pentagon data obtained by Reuters, compared with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth‘s July estimate of $37.5 billion. Reuters also reported that more than $29 billion would go to replace expended munitions and more than $6 billion would be needed from Congress for equipment and platform losses.<br /><br />Meanwhile, the 10-year Treasury bond yielded 5.01%, and the 2-year Treasury bond yielded 4.75%, at the last check.<br /><br />The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE: SPY), the Invesco QQQ Trust ETF (NASDAQ: QQQ) and the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust (NYSE: DIA), which track the S&P 500 index, Nasdaq 100 index and Dow Jones Industrial Average, respectively, were higher in premarket trading on Wednesday. The SPY was up 0.27% at $771.72, the QQQ advanced 0.43% to $724.38, and the DIA rose 0.052% to $523.55 .
