Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., Sept. 15, 2025.
Brendan McDermid | Reuters
Stocks were mixed Wednesday as traders prepared for a much-anticipated monetary policy decision and an even more important policy outlook from the Federal Reserve.
The S&P 500 traded just 0.1% higher, while the Nasdaq Composite shed 0.1%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average outperformed, climbing 158 points, or 0.3%.
Nvidia shares dipped more than 1% after The Financial Times reported, citing sources, that China has banned tech companies in the country from buying Nvidia’s chips.
Traders almost universally expect the Federal Reserve will lower interest rates on Wednesday, a move that could boost the U.S. economy amid signs the labor market is slowing even as inflation stays stubbornly above the central bank’s 2% target. Policymakers will also give more insight into their outlook for rates over the next year or so in the closely-watched “dot plot” grid that accompanies their quarterly Summary of Economic Projections.
Investors will also watch for any policy dissents from Fed policymakers after two such disagreements at the last meeting in July. Traders have priced in a 96% chance that the Fed will cut rates by 25 basis points, or a quarter percentage point, and just 4% odds that the market will get a half point reduction Wednesday, per the CME Group’s FedWatch tool.
Paul McCulley, former chief economist at Pimco, told CNBC’s “The Exchange” on Tuesday that a more conservative quarter-point rate cut is the most likely outcome.
“Quite frankly, I don’t know how I would explain [a 50 basis point cut] in the current context without saying the labor market really is worrying me intensely, and I don’t think that’s the message that Chair Powell wants to communicate — at least not now,” McCulley said.
Stocks are coming off of a lackluster trading session, where major U.S. indexes ended little changed.
