US STOCKS-Futures tick up after Fed holds rates steady

March 20 (Reuters) - Wall Street futures climbed on Thursday as investors drew confidence from the Federal Reserve's signaling of more interest rate cuts this year despite uncertainties stemming from U.S. trade policies.

The Fed opted to maintain current interest rates on Wednesday, a move widely anticipated by the market, but reaffirmed its forecast for two 25 basis point reductions by the year-end.

However, the central bank revised its economic outlook, projecting slightly reduced growth and increased inflation for the year, alongside a modest uptick in the unemployment rate by 2025.

"I mean it's just ... really hard to know how this is going to work out," Fed Chair Jerome Powell told a press conference after a two-day policy meeting.

Market participants are currently factoring in 63 basis points of easing from the Fed this year, placing odds of 25 bps rate cut in June at 60%, according to CME Group's Fedwatch tool.

In the previous session, the major stock indexes gained, with the S&P 500 .SPX advancing 1%, the tech-heavy Nasdaq .IXIC climbing 1.4% and the Dow .DJI gaining nearly 1%.

The CBOE volatility index .VIX, also known as Wall Street's fear gauge, touched a nearly one-month low in the previous session.

At 5:40 a.m. ET, S&P 500 E-minis EScv1 were up 8.5 points, or 0.15%, with 99,371 contracts changing hands. Nasdaq 100 E-minis NQcv1 were up 32.5 points, or 0.16% and Dow E-minis 1YMcv1 were up 39 points, or 0.09%.

Despite Wall Street seeing gains in three out of the past four sessions, the S&P 500 remains down 3.5% so far this year and the Nasdaq lower 8%. The indexes' declines erase all gains since President Donald Trump's November election, underscoring concerns over slowing economic growth and trade tensions fueled by Trump's aggressive trade policies.

"The potential downside risks to growth and upside risks to inflation, in part from tariffs and trade policy uncertainty, creates a complication for the monetary policy outlook," said Ryan Wang, U.S. economist at HSBC.

Gold prices XAU= hit a new record high, another sign of lingering investor worries.

A key focus for the markets will be the upcoming implementation of new reciprocal and sectoral tariffs, slated to take effect on April 2.

Growth stocks ticked up in premarket trade, with Nvidia NVDA.O rising nearly 1%. Meta META.O, Amazon.com AMZN.O and Microsoft MSFT.O all gained above 0.2% each.