WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Following the notable upward move seen over the two previous sessions, stocks have shown a lack of direction over the course of the trading day on Wednesday. The major averages have spent the day bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line.
Currently, the major averages are narrowly mixed. While the Nasdaq is down 12.70 points or 0.1 percent at 26,465.11, the S&P 500 is up 11.07 points or 0.1 percent at 7,733.67 and the Dow is up 86.15 points or 0.2 percent at 52,463.72.
The choppy trading on Wall Street comes as traders seem reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the announcement of the Federal Reserve's latest monetary policy decision this afternoon.
While the Fed is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged, traders are likely to pay close attention to the accompanying statement as well as Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh's post-meeting press conference for clues about the outlook for rates.
CME Group's FedWatch Tool is currently indicating a 90.6 percent chance the Fed will leave rates unchanged today but a 77.9 percent chance of a quarter point rate in December.
Some traders may also be sticking to the sidelines ahead of the release of earnings news from Microsoft (MSFT) and Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL) after the close today's trading.
'Investors will be looking beyond headline earnings towards cloud growth, AI-related capital expenditure and forward guidance, particularly whether substantial infrastructure investments are generating sustainable returns,' said Daniela Hathorn, Senior Market Analyst at Capital.com.
She added, 'Strong results could help restore confidence in the Nasdaq, but higher spending without corresponding improvements in profitability could renew valuation concerns.'
Sector News
Reflecting the lackluster performance by the broader markets, most of the major sectors are showing only modest moves on the day.
Transportation stocks have shown a significant move back to the downside, however, with the Dow Jones Transportation Average tumbling by 2.8 percent after ending the previous session at its highest closing level in well over a month.
Considerable weakness is also visible among telecom stocks, as reflected by the 2.1 percent slump by the NYSE Arca North American Telecom Index.
Brokerage, networking and computer hardware stocks are also seeing notable weakness, while biotechnology stocks have shown a significant move to the upside.
Other Markets
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly higher during trading on Wednesday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index jumped by 1.1 percent, while China's Shanghai Composite Index advanced by 0.9 percent.
Meanwhile, the major European markets are turning in a mixed performance on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index is down by 0.1 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index is up by 0.1 percent and the German DAX Index is up by 0.2 percent.
In the bond market, treasuries have moved to the downside after closing roughly flat for two straight days. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is up by 3.0 basis points at 5.03 percent.
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