U.S. Stocks Turning In Mixed Performance Ahead Of Fed Announcement

(RTTNews) - After ending the previous session slightly lower, the major U.S. stock indexes have moved in opposite directions during trading on Wednesday.

While the Dow has shown a notable move back to the upside, the tech-heavy Nasdaq is extending the modest pullback seen over the course of Tuesday's session.

Currently, the Dow is up 280.79 points or 0.6 percent at 46,038.69, but the S&P 500 is down 8.10 points or 0.1 percent at 6,598.66 and the Nasdaq is down 119.66 points or 0.5 percent at 22,214.30.

The Dow is benefitting from strong gains by American Express (AXP) and Walmart (WMT), while a slump by shares of Nvidia (NVDA) is weighing on the Nasdaq.

Nvidia is tumbling by 2.7 percent after a report from the Financial Times said China's internet regulator has banned the country's biggest technology companies from buying the company's artificial intelligence chips.

The mixed performance on Wall Street also comes as traders look ahead to the Federal Reserve's highly anticipated monetary policy announcement later this afternoon.

With the Fed widely expected to lower interest rates by 25 basis points, traders will look to the accompanying statement as well as officials' latest economic projections for clues about the outlook for rates.

CME Group's FedWatch Tool is currently indicating a 95.8 percent chance the Fed will cut rates by a quarter point and a slim 4.2 percent chance of a half-point rate cut.

The Fed is widely expected to lower rates by another 25 basis points at both its October and December meetings, although Fed Chair Jerome Powell is likely to say future rate cuts will depend on incoming economic data.

Sector News

Most of the major sectors are showing only modest moves on the day, contributing to the lackluster performance by the broader markets.

Airline stocks have shown a strong move to the upside, however, with the NYSE Arca Airline Index climbing by 1.6 percent.

Notable strength is also visible among telecom stocks, as reflected by the 1.3 percent gain being posted by the NYSE Arca North American Telecom Index.

Banking, pharmaceutical and housing stocks are also seeing some strength on the day, although buying interest appears somewhat subdued.

Other Markets

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in a mixed performance during trading on Wednesday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index fell by 0.3 percent, while China's Shanghai Composite Index rose by 0.4 percent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index surged by 1.8 percent.

The major European markets have also turned mixed on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index is down by 0.3 percent, the German DAX Index is up by 0.1 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index is up by 0.2 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries are extending the lackluster performance seen in the previous session. Currently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is up by less than a basis point at 4.034 percent.