Devik Jain and Bansari Mayur Kadar

(Reuters). Wall Street futures declined on Tuesday after a selloff by technology stocks before the Federal Reserve’s policy decision overshadowed positive results from blue chip companies such as IBM (NYSE:) and3M.

It is likely that the Fed will convene its two day monetary policy meeting in the latter part of the day. The Fed’s timing for increasing key interest rates against inflation will be closely monitored.

Fed funds futures traders have priced in a 25 basis point increase in March as well as three rate increases at the end.

“It seems like the market is responding to tighter Fed policies… I don’t think anybody will be taking any large-scale bets in advance of Wednesday’s meeting,” stated Dan Eye of Fort Pitt Capital Group, chief investment officer.

Insecurity has also been caused by the geopolitical tensions between Russia and West regarding Ukraine. According to U.S. Department of Defense about 8.500 American soldiers have been placed on alert.

U.S. equity markets had an uncertain start to 2022. After starting the year at a record high, the Nasdaq tech-heavy saw its worst year in 80.

Bespoke Investment Group reports that the Dow erased a 1000-point drop to close higher Monday, for the first ever time.

This week is the start of quarterly earnings season. Microsoft (NASDAQ) will announce its results after Tuesday’s market close. Apple and Tesla will follow suit later in the week.

As of Monday, earnings from S&P 500 companies were expected to grow 23.7% year-over-year, according to IBES estimates from Refinitiv.

Premarket trading saw IBM rise 0.6% after it beat Wall Street quarterly revenue and profit estimates. 3M gained 1.1% following beating the market expectations for its fourth quarter results.

American Express Co (NYSE:) jumped 3.5% on upbeat fourth-quarter profit, while another Dow component, Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:), was flat after missing estimates for fourth-quarter revenue.

General Electric After the conglomerate’s disappointing quarterly results, Co dropped 4.3%

Eye said, “Economic information has been a bit fuzzy lately. And Q4 earnings, while certainly good, are less in line with our expectations than the massive beats that have occurred over the past four quarters.”

8.34 AM. ET were down 317 point, or 0.93%. They were down 72.5points, or 1.65%. And they were down 319points, or 2.2%.

For clues about economic health, investors will look at consumer confidence data in the later part of the day to see if there are any signs that the Omicron variant has sparked a resurgence in COVID-19 case.