Midway through Wednesday’s trading session in New York, U.S. stocks managed to eke out modest gains, with the technology sector being the only laggard for the day as traders anxiously await the Federal Reserve meeting scheduled for 2 p.m. Wednesday.
The Fed is highly anticipated to keep rates steady at 5.25%-5.5%, but the focus is squarely on updated economic projections that could reveal a more hawkish stance on interest rates than initially expected.
This could potentially leave the door ajar for further rate hikes later in the year and fewer rate cuts for next year, making Fed Chair Jerome Powell‘s press conference at 2:30 p.m. a closely watched event.
Both the dollar and U.S. Treasury yields were slightly lower, after the 10-year yield hit the highest level in 16 years on Tuesday.
Cues From Wednesday's Trading:
The S&P 500 was 0.2% higher, while blue-chip stocks in the Dow Jones rose 0.6%.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 index slipped 0.2%. Small caps in the Russell 2000 Index managed to rise 0.6%.
...