U.S. stocks are mostly lower in mid-day trading on Wednesday, weighing on the Nasdaq and the S&P 500. However, the narrower Dow has bucked the downtrend amid strong gains by Dow Inc. (DOW) and Caterpillar (CAT).<\/p>\n
Currently, the major averages are turning in a mixed performance. While the Dow is up 104.28 points or 0.3 percent at 32,930.23, the Nasdaq is down 174.95 points or 1.3 percent at 13,296.62 and the S&P 500 is down 18.69 points or 0.5 percent at 3,944.02.<\/p>\n
The mixed performance on Wall Street comes as traders express some uncertainty ahead of the Fed’s monetary policy announcement this afternoon.<\/p>\n
The Fed is widely expected to maintain its ultra-easy money policy, but traders will be paying close attention to the central bank’s updated forecasts for the economy<\/span>, inflation and interest rates.<\/p>\n Some traders are also hoping Fed Chair Jerome Powell will address the recent spike in treasury yields in his post-meeting press conference.<\/p>\n Treasury yields have shown a notable move to the upside ahead of the Fed announcement, contributing to weakness in the technology<\/span> sector and the steep drop by the tech-heavy Nasdaq.<\/p>\n The yields on ten-year notes and thirty-year bonds have jumped to their highest intraday levels in over a year, raising concerns about the outlook for interest rates.<\/p>\n In U.S. economic news, the Commerce Department released a report showing a substantial decrease in new residential construction in the month of February.<\/p>\n The report said housing starts plummeted by 10.3 percent to an annual rate of 1.421 million in February after slumping by 5.1 percent to a revised rate of 1.584 million in January.<\/p>\n Economists had expected housing starts to decrease by 0.9 percent to a rate of 1.565 million from the 1.580 million originally reported for the previous month.<\/p>\n With the steep drop, housing starts continued to give back ground after reaching a fourteen-year high of 1.670 million in December.<\/p>\n The report also showed a much bigger than expected decrease in building permits, which plummeted by 10.8 percent to an annual rate of 1.682 million in February after spiking by 10.7 percent to a revised rate of 1.886 million in January.<\/p>\n Building permits, an indicator of future housing demand, had been expected to tumble by 7 percent to a rate of 1.750 million from the 1.881 million originally reported for the previous month.<\/p>\n Sector News<\/p>\n Software stocks have shown a significant move to the downside over the course of the session, dragging the Dow Jones U.S. Software Index down by 1.7 percent.<\/p>\n Considerable weakness has also emerged among semiconductor stocks, as reflected by the 1.4 percent drop by the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index.<\/p>\n On the other hand, housing stocks have moved notably higher despite the disappointing housing starts data, driving the Philadelphia Housing Sector Index up by 1.2 percent.<\/p>\n Most of the other major sectors are showing only modest moves on the day, as traders await the Fed’s monetary policy announcement.<\/p>\n Other Markets<\/p>\n