NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. stock market remains largely quiet as Wall Street waits to hear from the Federal Reserve in the afternoon. The S&P 500 slipped 0.1% early Wednesday and remains near its all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was flat, and the Nasdaq composite fell 0.3%. Treasury yields were also steady as the countdown ticks toward the Fed’s announcement. The widespread expectation is for the Fed to cut its main interest rate for a third time this year to bolster the job market. But traders are bracing for Fed officials to imply fewer cuts to rates in 2026 than this year.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
U.S. markets are slightly lower ahead of a Federal Reserve meeting Wednesday that's expected to end with the third interest rate cut this year.
Futures for the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average inched less than 0.1% lower before the bell, while Nasdaq futures ticked down 0.1%.
Cracker Barrel slid 8% overnight after the restaurant chain posted lower-than-expected sales in its first quarter and trimmed its revenue expectations for the year after a botched plan to revamp its logo and restaurants. Same-store sales dropped 4.7% during the quarter.
PepsiCo rose 1.4% after the beverage and snack giant said it plans to cut prices and eliminate some of its products under a deal with an activist investor. PepsiCo said it will drop nearly 20% of its products by early next year and use the savings to invest in marketing and improved value for customers.
Meme stock favorite GameStop slid nearly 7% after the video game retailer beat profit targets but fell well short of revenue forecasts.
Oracle, a bellwether in the artificial intelligence sector, will report on its quarterly performance after the bell. The company's spending spree in AI has some worried about its cash flow. Shares are up more than 30% this year, but they've also slumped that much since early September.
The main event for markets comes later Wednesday, when the Federal Reserve announces its latest decision on interest rates. Stocks have already run to the edge of their records on widespread expectations that the Fed will cut its main interest rate for the third time this year.
The big question is what kind of hints the Fed will offer about where interest rates will go next year. Many on Wall Street are bracing for talk aimed at tamping down expectations for more cuts in 2026.
Inflation has stubbornly remained above the Fed’s 2% target, and Fed officials are notably split in their opinions about whether high inflation or the slowing job market is the bigger threat to the economy.
Lower interest rates can give the economy and prices for investments a boost, though their downside is that they can worsen inflation.
In Europe at midday, France's CAC 40 slipped 0.4%, the German DAX dipped 0.5% and Britain's FTSE 100 added 0.3%.
In Asian trading, Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 dropped 0.1% to finish at 50,602.80. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 slipped nearly 0.1% to 8,579.40. South Korea's Kospi declined 0.2% to 4,135.00. Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 0.4% to 25,540.78, while the Shanghai Composite shed 0.2% to 3,900.50.
Taiwan's Taiex surged 0.8%.
In energy markets, benchmark U.S. crude lost 30 cents to $58.55 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, gave back 26 cents to $62.20 a barrel.
Silver is trading at an all-time high above $60 per ounce early Wednesday