U.S. stocks are falling ahead of the Fed's rate decision

By Liz Moyer

Investing.com -- U.S. stocks were falling early Wednesday as investors paused for the Federal Reserve's rate decision this afternoon.

At 10:44 ET (15:44 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 273 points or 0.8%, while the S&P 500 was down 0.4% and the NASDAQ Composite was down 0.3%.

Investors are being cautious ahead of today’s Federal Reserve decision on interest rates. The central bank is widely expected to raise its benchmark rate by a quarter of a percentage point. 

Chair Jerome Powell will speak to reporters after the decision is announced, and investors will be listening for any clues about the Fed’s thinking heading into the year.

The Fed wants to cool the economy while avoiding a recession, and it is watching inflation as well as labor market trends while it makes its decision. 

The job market cooled in January according to ADP’s private payroll report, which showed employers added 106,000 employees last month. That was fewer than expected and below the 253,000 added in December.

The JOLTs job opening report said there were 11 million openings in December, which was more than expected and up from 10.4 million the prior month.

While Fed officials have said they want to see the terminal interest rate rise above 5% in order to quash inflation, the market is betting that the Fed will make one more rate hike after today in March, pushing the terminal rate to 4.9%.

Corporate earnings continue to pour in. Shares of Advanced Micro Devices Inc (NASDAQ:AMD) rose more than 7% after reporting earnings that were better than expected. Shares of video game company Electronic Arts Inc (NASDAQ:EA) fell 11% after it cut its annual bookings forecast. Snap Inc (NYSE:SNAP) fell 12.9% after a net loss for the fourth quarter.

Oil turned lower. Crude Oil WTI Futures were down 0.1% to $78.78 a barrel, while Brent Oil Futures were down 0.5% to $85.06 a barrel and Gold Futures rose 0.1% to $1,947.