Investing.com – Wall Street registered mixed trade on Wednesday as investors showed caution ahead of the Federal Reserve’s (Fed) monetary policy decision and despite better than expected reads on the economy.
At 12:09PM ET (17:09GMT), the Dow Jones inched up 5 points, or 0.03%, the S&P 500 dropped 3 points, or 0.13%, while the Nasdaq Composite traded up 15 points, or 0.27%.
The Fed is widely expected to stand pat on interest rates when it announces its decision at 2:00PM ET (19:00GMT) on Wednesday but investors will go over the latest statement from the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) with a magnifying glass, looking for any change in language which could point more clearly to a near-term rate hike.
While some experts suggest that the Fed’s hands are tied until the full package of President Donald Trump’s fiscal policies are announced, others believe that the boxes for further monetary policy tightening are already being checked.
While waiting for the Fed’s announcement, the dollar extended gains against other major currencies on Wednesday, after the release of upbeat U.S. economic reports, while gold pulled back from one-week highs.
U.S. non-farm private employment rose much more than expected in January, boosting optimism over the health of the labor market, industry data showed on Wednesday.
Payroll processing firm ADP said non-farm private employment rose by a seasonally adjusted 246,000 last month, easily surpassing forecasts for an increase of 165,000.
The report set the stage for expectations in the official government report on Friday for the creation of 175,000 nonfarm payrolls.
In other positive economic news, the U.S. manufacturing sector showed its fastest pace of growth in more than two years, bolstering optimism over the economy in the first month of 2017.
In earnings news, mostly positive tech results were responsible for the slight gains seen in the Nasdaq on Wednesday.
Shares in Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) jumped more than 5% after the company reported quarterly revenue that topped analyst projections late Tuesday, fueled by demand for its latest iPhone.
Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD) soared nearly 13% after reporting a smaller loss for the fourth quarter and the midpoint of the chip maker’s first quarter revenue guidance topped consensus.
In other company news, automakers reported mixed U.S. auto sales for January, with General Motors (NYSE:GM) posting a 3.8 percent decline while crosstown rival Ford Motor (NYSE:F) topped analysts forecasts on strong truck sales.
Meanwhile, oil prices stayed higher on Wednesday, despite data showing that U.S. crude supplies rose for the fourth week in a row last week.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report that crude oil inventories rose by 6.5 million barrels in the week ended January 27, nearly double expectations for a crude-stock gain of 3.3 million barrels.
U.S. crude futures gained 0.61% to $53.13 by 12:11PM ET (17:11GMT), while Brent oil advanced 0.83% to $56.04.