Investing.com – Wall Street traded lower for a seventh consecutive session on Wednesday as jitters over the Federal Reserve’s (Fed) policy decision this evening and uncertainty over next week’s presidential election caused investors to take risk off the table, while a huge buildup in U.S. crude inventories caused sharp losses in oil prices.
At 11:44AM ET (15:44GMT), the Dow Jones fell 11 points, or 0.11%, the S&P 500 lost 7 points, or 0.31% while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite traded down 15 points, or 0.29%.
If the S&P 500 closes the day in the red, that would be its longest losing streak since November 2011.
Investors were rattled by signs the U.S. presidential election race was tightening with less than a week to go before the November 8 vote.
Two separate polls showed Donald Trump moving slightly ahead of Hillary Clinton, as enthusiasm for the Democratic candidate has ebbed since the renewal of the FBI’s email investigation late last week.
Also forcing caution on markets, investors looked ahead to the outcome of the Fed's policy meeting which will be announced at 2:00PM (18:00GMT).
The U.S. central bank is not expected to raise interest rates, but could signal its intent to hike in December amid signs the economy is picking up steam.
Traders are currently pricing in just a 6.2% chance of a rate hike today, according to Investing.com's Fed Rate Monitor Tool. For December, odds stood at 69.8%.
In other economic news out Wednesday, the ADP payroll data showed the creation of just 147,000 jobs in October, missing estimates for 165,000. That was ahead of the government’s own employment report on Friday.
Meanwhile, oil prices slumped 3% after the weekly report on oil supplies from the U.S. Energy Information Administration showed a record buildup in crude stockpiles.
U.S. crude futures tumbled 3.21% to $45.17 by 11:46AM ET (15:46GMT), while Brent oil traded down 3.14% to $46.63.
In big movers on earnings, Kate Spade (NYSE:KATE) tumbled more than 7% despite the handbag and accessory maker reporting earnings that beat estimates with its full-year guidance also settling within the range forecast by the consensus.
Estee Lauder (NYSE:EL) traded down nearly 5% after the cosmetics maker beat on profit, but missed on sales.
Clorox (NYSE:CLX) was also off close to 2% as earnings-per-share disappointed expectations.
Facebook (NASDAQ:FB), Whole Foods Market (NASDAQ:WFM), AIG (NYSE:AIG), Wynn Resorts (NASDAQ:WYNN), Godaddy (NYSE:GDDY), Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM), Fitbit (NYSE:FIT) and MetLife (NYSE:MET) are due after the closing bell.