By STAN CHOE, AP Business Writer
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are holding nearly in place on Wednesday as Wall Street waits to hear where the Federal Reserve may be taking interest rates.
The S&P 500 was edging up by 0.1% in early trading. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 33 points, or 0.1%, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.1% lower.
The quiet moves came as oil prices rose, but more modestly than the day before. They had been yo-yoing for days because of rising and ebbing fears that Israel’s fighting with Iran could disrupt the global flow of crude. A barrel of benchmark U.S. oil added 0.6% to $73.74.
The headline event for the day will likely arrive at 2 p.m. Eastern, when the Federal Reserve is set to announce its latest move on interest rates. The nearly unanimous expectation is that it will hold rates steady, as it’s been doing for all of this year after cutting through the end of 2024.
More important will be what the Fed says about the future. Officials will release projections for where they see the economy, inflation and interest rates heading in upcoming years. The widespread expectation on Wall Street is that the Fed will cut its main interest rate at least two times by the end of 2025, though that has been weakening a bit recently as oil prices have climbed and put upward pressure on inflation.
A cut in rates could make mortgages, credit-card payments and other loans cheaper for U.S. households and businesses, which in turn could give the overall economy a boost. But lower rates can also fan inflation higher.
Besides the threat of higher oil prices because of the fighting between Israel and Iran, the Fed has been concerned about the potential for President Donald Trump’s tariffs to both hurt the economy and to drive inflation higher. That’s been the main reason it’s been on hold with interest rates this year.
So far, inflation has remained relatively tame, and it’s near the Fed’s target of 2%. But economists have been saying it may take months more to feel the full effects of tariffs.
A pair of reports on the U.S. economy came in mixed on Wednesday. One said fewer workers applied for unemployment benefits last week, which could be an indication of lightening layoffs. But a second report said that homebuilders broke ground on fewer homes last month than economists expected. That could be a sign that higher mortgage rates are chilling the industry.
In the bond market, Treasury yields edged a bit lower.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.36% from 4.39% late Tuesday. The two-year Treasury yield, which more closely tracks expectations for what the Fed will do with its overnight interest rate, dipped to 3.93% from 3.94%.
In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed across Europe and Asia.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.9%, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 1.1% for two of the bigger moves.
AP Writer Jiang Junzhe contributed.