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Traders are treading cautiously in Wednesday's session, seeking more clarity on the Federal Reserve's stance with inflation reports exceeding expectations. The forthcoming Federal Open Market Committee statement is anticipated to maintain interest rates where they are and possibly unveil a reduction in the Fed's balance sheet runoff from $60 billion to $30 billion monthly. Fed Chair Jerome Powell's press conference is at 2:30 p.m. ET. The S&P 500 inched 0.2% lower, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 underperformed, down 0.6%. Blue chips managed to avoid losses and showcased a 0.3% rise. Aside from Fed policy, earnings remain a key driver of market sentiment, particularly as chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices Inc. AMD offered less optimistic second-quarter guidance than expected. This news led to a nearly 10% drop in its share price. In sympathy, the broader industry saw a decline, with heavyweight Nvidia Corp. NVDA also experiencing a more than 5% decrease in its shares. Data-wise, the ADP National Employment Report revealed a stronger-than-expected private jobs addition in April, ahead of the highly awaited official jobs report on Friday. The ISM Manufacturing Index surprisingly fell back into contraction territory, missing expectations. Sentiment on the cryptocurrency market continued to remain fragile, with Bitcoin BTC/USD sinking over 5%, on track for a two-day, 10% slump, the worst since November 2022. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY fell 0.2% to $501.04, the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average DIA rose 0.3% to $379.38 and the tech-heavy Invesco QQQ Trust QQQ fell 0.6% to $422.21, according to Benzinga Pro data. Sector-wise, the Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund XLU outperformed, up 1.2%, followed by the Communication Services Select Sector SPDR Fund XLC, up 1.1%. The Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund XLE was the major laggard, down 1.6%. Read now: April Jobs Report Preview: Bank Of America Anticipates Solid Payrolls Growth, Rising Wage Pressures Illustration created using artificial intelligence via MidJourney. Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs © 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.Wednesday's Performance In Major US Indices, ETFs
Major IndicesPrice1-day %chgDow Jones37,940.890.3%Russell 20001,972.880.0%S&P 5005,024.25-0.2%Nasdaq 10017,334.25-0.6%Updated at 12:28 p.m. EDTWednesday's Stock Movers