On December 18, the TSE Growth Market 250 Index Futures fell 3 points from the previous trading day to 619 points. The high was 628 points, the low was 619 points, and the intraday trading volume was 3,034 contracts. On the previous day, December 17, the Dow Inc average in the US market fell for the ninth consecutive day, declining after the opening due to persistently high long-term interest rates. The retail revenue for November, announced in the morning, exceeded market expectations, and while there remains no change in the view that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates at tomorrow's Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting, it has led to predictions that the pace of rate cuts will slow next year. The uncertainty in monetary policy ahead of the FOMC weighed on the markets, and both the Dow Inc average and Nasdaq trended weakly throughout the day. Today's TSE Growth Market 250 Index Futures started unchanged at 622 points compared to the previous trading day. With the Japanese market as a whole displaying directionless price movements, a mood of buyers being hesitant arose due to the Dow Inc average recording its ninth consecutive decline, the longest in about 46 years. In addition to the parabolic turn, as all major short-term moving averages dropped below, speculative selling was also observed. With the announcement of the policy interest rate in the US tonight, profit-taking selling gained dominance as the day came to a close, resulting in an end to trading at the day's low of 619 points. In the leading stocks of the TSE Growth Market, Heartseed <219A> and Lawyer.com <6027> saw declines.