Wall Street pointed modestly lower Wednesday as markets remain anxious about lingering inflation and the potential for fewer interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve. Futures for the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average were both down about 0.

A soft finish to 2024 still left stocks with a second straight stellar year. The S&P 500 logged a 23.3% gain, which follows a 24% rise in 2023. The combined gains of more than 53% was the largest two-year percentage jump for the index since year-end 1998,

Asian shares mostly rose Tuesday, deriving optimism from rising technology stocks on Wall Street, led by Nvidia. Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 jumped 2.4% in morning trading to 40,248.68. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index slid 0.