NEW YORK — The U.S. stock market remains largely quiet on Wednesday as Wall Street waits to hear what the Federal Reserve will say in the afternoon about where interest rates may be heading.
The S&P 500 slipped 0.1 per cent but remains near its all-time high, which was set in October. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 118 points, or 0.2 per cent, as of 10:45 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.4 per cent lower.
Among the market’s big movers was GE Vernova, which flew 9.2 per cent higher after the energy company raised its forecast for revenue by 2028, doubled its dividend and increased its program to buy back its own stock. Palantir Technologies added 1.7 per cent after saying the U.S. Navy will use its artificial-intelligence technology as part of a US$448 million program.
On the losing end of Wall Street was GameStop, which fell 6.1 per cent after reporting weaker revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected. The video-game retailers’ profit toppped forecasts, though.
Cracker Barrel Old Country Store slipped 0.3 per cent after swinging between gains and losses. The restaurant chain caught up in a furor around its logo design reported better results for the latest quarter than analysts expected but also cut its forecast for revenue this fiscal year, as well as for an underlying measure of earnings.
In the bond market, Treasury yields eased a bit as the countdown ticks toward the Fed’s announcement at 2 p.m. Eastern time. The widespread expectation is that it will cut its main interest rate for a third time this year in hopes of bolstering the job market.
That expectation is so strong that U.S. stock prices have already run to the edge of their records because of it. The more important question for Wall Street will be what Fed officials will say about where they see interest rates potentially heading in 2026.
Wall Street has been bracing for Fed officials to imply fewer cuts to rates in 2026 than this year, and potentially fewer than the two that many traders are expecting now, even after they downgraded their forecasts.
While lower interest rates can boost the economy and send prices for investments higher, they can also worsen inflation.
With inflation remaining stubbornly above the Fed’s two per cent target, Fed officials are notably split about whether high inflation or the slowing job market is the bigger threat to the economy.
In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury edged down to 4.17 per cent from 4.18 per cent late Tuesday. The two-year yield, which more closely tracks expectations for the Fed, dipped to 3.60 per cent from 3.61 per cent.
In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed amid mostly modest movements across Europe and Asia.
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Stan Choe, The Associated Press
AP Business Writers Yuri Kageyama and Matt Ott contributed.
