US STOCKS-S&P 500, Nasdaq set to open higher; Home Depot to pressure Dow

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq indexes were set to open slightly higher on Wednesday, with investors awaiting the Federal Reserve's decision on monetary policy, while losses in Home Depot looked set to pressure the Dow Jones index.

The Fed is widely expected to keep interest rates steady in its last policy statement, due at 2:00 p.m. ET (1900 GMT). Investors are also awaiting Fed Chair Jerome Powell's outlook on the economy when he holds a news conference later in the day. "Obviously the Fed isn't going to change rates and my sense is that they are pretty happy where they are right now," said Scott Brown, chief economist at Raymond James in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Stocks have stalled so far in December after three straight months of gains as a combination of year-end fatigue, uncertainty over U.S.-China trade talks and global growth concerns has weighed on markets. At 8:44 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 29 points, or 0.1%. S&P 500 e-minis were up 4.25 points, or 0.14% and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 20.75 points, or 0.25%.

Trump has just days to decide whether to impose levies on nearly $160 billion in Chinese goods. "The cautionary thing is that we've seen these bits of news and eventually had tariffs raised. So we are definitely not out of the woods on trade policy," Brown said.

The White House's top economic and trade advisers are expected to meet in coming days with Trump over the decision, a source told Reuters, though a final decision has not been made. Also slated for this week is the European Central Bank meeting on Thursday, along with general elections in Britain.

The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average index was set to open lower, with Home Depot Inc falling 1.7% in premarket trading. The home improvement chain forecast fiscal 2020 sales growth below Wall Street expectations, weeks after lowering its 2019 sales forecast.

Tesla Inc gained 1% on a Reuters report that the electric carmaker planned to increase prices of imported Model 3 cars in China in January.