CO - S&P 500 Dow Jones Nasdaq dip in choppy trade ahead of Fed minutes

The stock market is slightly lower Wednesday in choppy trading as investors await the minutes of the June FOMC meeting.

Earlier economic numbers the market with a quandry, quelling some worries about a quickly weakening economy, but also giving the Fed little reason to back off from another hike of 75 basis points.

The Nasdaq ( COMP.IND ) -0.4% , S&P 500 ( SP500 ) -0.4% and Dow ( DJI ) -0.4% are down.

Rates are higher after a drop at the open. The 10-year Treasury yield is up 8 basis points to 2.89% and the 2-year is up 8 basis points to 2.90%.

The 5-year yield is up 9 basis points to 2.91%. The 2s5s curve inverted yesterday for the first time this cycle, according to Deutsche Bank.

In this morning's data, job openings for May fell but remained high at 11.3M , well above the 11M expected.

The quits rate ticked down to 2.8%, but that indicates workers are still confident, with quitting "still elevated compared to pre-pandemic levels," Indeed economist Nick Bunker tweeted. "Prior to the pandemic, the all-time low for the layoff rate was 1.1%. May was the 15th straight month the layoff rate was below that level."

The June ISM services index dropped less than expected to 55.3 .

"The headline ISM services index is not a reliable leading indicator of anything, as far as we can tell, but markets appear to give it some credence as a broad measure of the health of the sector," Pantheon Macro said. "For now, the message seems to be that things aren’t great, but could be much worse."

"That said, we are inclined to take seriously the signal from the employment index, which suggests that payroll growth will soon slow to just 100K or so. What really matters, though, is whether this softening persists."

This afternoon, the FOMC minutes from June's meeting are released.

"If slightly dated, the minutes will show discussions that were unpolluted by the extent of the move lower in interest rates," ING said. "With no clear sign of a deceleration in inflation, our economics team sees no reason for Fed officials to drop their hawkish rhetoric."

"In fact we even expect a 75bp hike in July, barring a sharp weakening in employment indicators in this Friday’s report. If Powell’s recent remarks are anything to go by, the tone of the FOMC minutes will cause cognitive dissonance, with markets now openly questioning how far and how long the Fed can tighten policy before having to reverse course."

Among active issues, travel stocks are among the weakest in the S&P as earnings season approaches .

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