NEW YORK/BENGALURU (Jan 29): The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq slipped on Wednesday, as losses in tech heavyweights Apple and Nvidia pressured broader gains and as cautious investors braced for the US Federal Reserve's interest-rate decision, expected later in the day.
Markets widely expect the central bank to hold its lending rate steady in its decision, which is due at 2pm ET.
"This is one of the least interesting Fed meetings that we've had in quite some time. Market expectations are totally nil for today, and I just don't expect to hear anything that is going to move the needle," said Mike Dickson, head of research at Horizon Investments.
At 11:23am ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 18.05 points, or 0.04%, to 44,868.40, the S&P 500 lost 21.63 points, or 0.36%, to 6,046.03, and the Nasdaq Composite lost 136.74 points, or 0.69%, to 19,596.84.
Seven of the 11 S&P 500 sectors were trading higher, although information technology dropped 1.4%, overshadowing gains.
Nvidia fell 4.6%, after rising close to 9% on Tuesday. Its shares were hammered on Monday, after Chinese startup DeepSeek launched artificial intelligence (AI) models it said were cost-effective and ran on less advanced chips compared to OpenAI.
"Nvidia was priced to perfection... you're going to see some continued pockets of volatility, as this theme evolves," Dickson said.
Apple shed 0.6%, after brokerage Oppenheimer downgraded its rating to "perform" from "outperform". The iPhone maker is scheduled to report quarterly earnings later this week.
The Nasdaq jumped 2% in the previous session, while the S&P 500 rose close to 1%, as some AI-linked tech shares pared back some losses.
Earnings from Magnificent 7 stocks Microsoft, Facebook-parent Meta, and Tesla are expected after markets close.
Meanwhile, T-Mobile added 8.7% after the company forecast stronger-than-expected annual subscriber growth, driven by increased demand for its affordable premium 5G plans.
Danaher shed 8.6% after the life sciences company missed estimates for fourth-quarter profit, while cybersecurity and cloud services company F5 jumped 10.7% after forecasting second-quarter revenue above estimates and posting a first-quarter revenue beat.
Of the 112 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported earnings so far, 75.9% reported numbers above analyst expectations, according to data compiled by LSEG.
Shares of semiconductor firms and related equipment makers received a boost after Dutch firm ASML reported fourth-quarter bookings of 7.09 billion euros (US$7.39 billion, or RM32.45 billion), far exceeding expectations.
Most were off session highs, with KLA Corp, Applied Materials, Lam Research, and Micron Technology last up around 1% each.
Markets have been on edge due to worries around US President Donald Trump's proposed tariffs, which could exacerbate inflationary pressures and slow the pace of rate cuts.
The December reading of the personal consumption expenditures price index, a crucial metric in assessing the inflation trajectory, is due on Friday.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.03-to-1 ratio on the NYSE, while declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 1.27-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P 500 posted 28 new 52-week highs and three new lows, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 52 new highs and 76 new lows.
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