US open: Investors play it safe ahead of Fed decision
An early timid advance on Wall Street on Wednesday quickly gave way to mixed trading ahead of the Federal Reserve's policy announcement later in the day, as investors decided that discretion was the better part of valour.
The Federal Open Market Committtee's policy announcement was scheduled for 1900 BST with Fed chairman Jerome Powell's press conference set to follow half an hour later with many investors apparently looking for Powell to validate their expectations for up to three interest rate cuts in the US for over the remainder of 2019.
As of 1537 BST, the Dow Jones Industrials was up by 0.13% to 26,502.87 with the S&P 500 down by 0.01% at 2,917.55 and the Nasdaq Composite was dipping 0.11% to 7,945.17.
To take note of, both the S&P 500 and Dow Industrials were within striking distance of their all-time highs.
Trading was so restrained that share prices failed to react to news that US Trade Representative, Robert Lighthizer was set to meet with his Chinese counterparts over the next day and a half and then again at the G-20 leaders' summit in Osaka, Japan.
In any case, while policymakers on the Federal Open Market Committee were widely-expected to stay put on rates at Wednesday's meeting, according to some analysts there was room for disappointment over the guidance that it would provide for the year ahead.
Muddying the waters a tad ahead of the FOMC's decision, overnight Bloomberg had reported that in February the White House had studied the practicalities around a possible demotion of Powell to the status of simply another governor on the Fed board.
Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at Oanda, told clients: "The central bank is now under considerable pressure [...]
"These tactics didn't work too well for the President last year, with the Fed raising interest rates four times despite huge pressure being publicly applied. Will they do the same again and reassert their independence or will the memory of the previous policy mistake force their hand, calling into question how much influence the President is having on their judgement and decision making. One thing is clear, the current relationship is not healthy and is likely to lead to more bad policy decisions and questions around its independence."
No major economic data releases were scheduled for Wednesday.
In geopolitical news, the White House was reportedly mulling three different options for sanctioning Turkey for its decision to go aahead and purchase Russia's S-400 missile defence system.
Apple was front and centre in the day's headlines, after a report in Nikkei that the smartphone manufacturer was studying shifting between 15-30% of its output from China to Southeast Asia as part of a fundamental restructuring of its supply chain.
Adobe shares were climbing after analysts at BMO Capital raised their target price on them to $315.
Elsewhere on the corporate front, stock in Southwest Airlines was moving lower even after the airline lifted its second quarter unit revenue guidance, although it now expected its 737 Max jets to be idled for longer.
Boeing stock meanwhile was trading down by roughly half a percentage point after the Wall Street Journal said efforts to get its 737 back in the air were being hampered by doubts about whether the average pilot would have sufficient strength to turn a manual crank in the midst of an emergency.
Dow Jones - Risers
Boeing Co. (BA) $372.72 5.02%
3M Co. (MMM) $171.76 2.99%
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $196.26 2.85%
American Express Co. (AXP) $124.25 2.31%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $130.17 2.24%
United Technologies Corp. (UTX) $126.68 1.97%
JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) $111.36 1.96%
Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $250.61 1.89%
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $84.78 1.78%
Nike Inc. (NKE) $83.51 1.71%
Dow Jones - Fallers
Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) $109.45 -1.39%
Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $139.13 -1.31%
Coca-Cola Co. (KO) $50.54 -0.65%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $134.47 -0.51%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $47.28 -0.19%
McDonald's Corp. (MCD) $203.59 -0.11%
Walmart Inc. (WMT) $109.07 -0.08%
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $198.41 -0.02%
Dowdupont Inc. (DWDP) $30.52 0.00%
Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $57.67 0.06%
S&P 500 - Risers
Allergan plc (AGN) $125.89 8.78%
IQVIA Holdings Inc. (IQV) $151.81 7.32%
Nucor Corp. (NUE) $54.23 6.86%
Boeing Co. (BA) $372.72 5.02%
Regions Financial Corp. (RF) $15.03 4.81%
United Rentals Inc. (URI) $126.96 4.63%
Fluor Corp. (FLR) $31.29 4.58%
Eog Resources Inc. (EOG) $89.21 4.38%
Adobe Systems Inc. (ADBE) $288.86 4.37%
Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (CFG) $35.76 4.03%
S&P 500 - Fallers
Lennar Corp. Class A (LEN) $50.49 -4.74%
Martin Marietta Mtrl (MLM) $214.65 -4.36%
D. R. Horton Inc. (DHI) $44.00 -4.27%
O'Reilly Automotive Inc. (ORLY) $370.50 -3.85%
Sl Green Realty Corp. (SLG) $85.15 -3.80%
Albemarle Corp. (ALB) $68.55 -3.78%
Kroger Co. (KR) $23.57 -3.24%
AES Corp. (AES) $16.30 -3.15%
Vulcan Materials Co. (VMC) $129.33 -3.14%
Kellogg Co. (K) $54.81 -3.08%
Nasdaq 100 - Risers
Adobe Systems Inc. (ADBE) $288.86 4.37%
Mylan Inc. (MYL) $18.24 2.76%
Autodesk Inc. (ADSK) $165.95 2.50%
Western Digital Corp. (WDC) $38.76 1.71%
Cadence Design Systems Inc. (CDNS) $70.29 1.56%
Liberty Global plc Series A (LBTYA) $27.62 1.32%
Liberty Global plc Series C (LBTYK) $26.88 1.28%
Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ALXN) $123.74 1.12%
Align Technology Inc. (ALGN) $293.23 1.09%
T-Mobile Us, Inc. (TMUS) $77.26 1.07%
Nasdaq 100 - Fallers
O'Reilly Automotive Inc. (ORLY) $370.50 -3.85%
Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. (TTWO) $108.90 -1.91%
Activision Blizzard Inc. (ATVI) $44.92 -1.86%
Facebook Inc. (FB) $185.48 -1.59%
QUALCOMM Inc. (QCOM) $71.04 -1.27%
Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. (CTSH) $62.96 -1.19%
Monster Beverage Corp (MNST) $61.42 -1.13%
CSX Corp. (CSX) $76.90 -1.07%
NetEase Inc. Ads (NTES) $263.32 -1.06%
Vodafone Group Plc ADS (VOD) $15.98 -1.05%