By STAN CHOE, Associated Press Business Writer
NEW YORK (AP) — 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.
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The S&P 500 slipped 0.2% in early trading and remains near its all-time high, which was set in October. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 88 points, or 0.2%, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.5% lower.
Among the market’s few big movers was GE Vernova, which flew 15% higher after raising its forecast for revenue and other financial measures through 2028.
Cracker Barrel Old Country Store sank 2.1%. It 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 largely held steady 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 2% 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 held at 4.18%, where it was late Tuesday. The two-year yield, which more closely tracks expectations for the Fed, held steady at 3.61%.
In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed amid mostly modest movements across Europe and Asia.
AP Business Writers Yuri Kageyama and Matt Ott contributed.
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