Stocks were little changed Wednesday as investors awaited the Federal Reserve interest rate announcement expected later in the day. Traders also monitored the latest updates on U.S. trade negotiations.
The S&P 500 added 0.4%, while the Nasdaq Composite dipped about 0.1%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average traded 373 points higher, or 0.9%, thanks to a 10% pop in Disney shares. The entertainment giant reported a surprise jump in streaming subscribers.
The Fed is slated to announce its latest monetary policy decision at 2 p.m. ET. Fed funds futures are pricing in a nearly 100% likelihood that the central bank holds the borrowing rate steady, according to CME's FedWatch tool.
The major averages came off their highs after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent reiterated that trade talks taking place in Switzerland this weekend with Chinese officials would be mostly preliminary. News of the discussions initially gave equities a boost.
Traders will monitor Fed Chair Jerome Powell's post-decision press conference for insights on where rates could go moving forward. It comes at a precarious moment for the central bank leader after being the target of criticism from Trump, who has said his "termination cannot come fast enough."
The Fed meeting also comes as market participants contend with concerns that Trump's plan for levies could push inflation higher, complicating the central bank's plan for interest rates.
"There are serious concerns that the tariff situation will introduce inflationary pressures that will begin to reveal themselves as time progresses," said Chris Brigati, chief investment officer at SWBC. "We fear inflation will remain elevated and sticky, if not specifically moving meaningfully higher, causing interest rates to remain higher until inflation is tamed and the Fed can react with a more aggressive rate cutting policy to spur economic growth."
These are the stocks moving the most in midday trading:
Read the full list of stocks moving here.
A closely watched measure for used vehicle pricing jumped last month to its highest level since October 2023 as consumers bought up used cars amid fears of tariff-driven price hikes.
Cox Automotive's Manheim Used Vehicle Value Index - which tracks prices of used vehicles sold at its U.S. wholesale auctions - increased 4.9% last month compared with a year earlier to a level of 208.2. It also marked a 2.75 increase from March, which is a huge jump compared to a historically typical month-to-month index move of 0.2%, according to the auto data and logistics firm.
While the tariffs of 25% on new imported vehicles and many parts do not directly impact used car sales, the used car market is affected by changes in new vehicle prices, production and demand.
Notably, one stock benefitting from this trend is Carvana. The online used car sales giant has seen its shares climb more than 28% this year.
Vishal Khanduja, head of broad markets fixed income at Morgan Stanley Investment Management, told CNBC Wednesday that the latest economic updates means that tariff discussions are higher up on the priority list for investors than the Federal Reserve meeting.
"The data over the last two weeks, the hard data if you will ... has almost stolen the thunder from this Fed meeting. I think the more important part will be Treasury Secretary Bessent and what his conversations are over the weekend," Khanduja said.
That data includes an April jobs report that came in stronger than expected.
Traders will be looking for clues about the Fed's "reaction function," or how quickly the central bank will react to any sign of economic weakness, Khanduja said.
Charles River Laboratories and Rockwell Automation led the S&P 500 higher on Wednesday after earnings topped Wall Street expectations.
Charles River popped more than 16% after earning $2.34 per share, excluding items, on $984.2 million. Analysts polled by FactSet estimated $2.07 per share and $941.9 million.
Rockwell Automation popped more than 10%. The company earned $2.45 per share, excluding items, and $2 billion in revenue, surpassing FactSet consensus expectations of $2.10 per share and $1.97 billion, respectively.
Bank of America upgraded shares of Honeywell International to a buy rating from neutral. Analyst Andrew Obin simultaneously lifted his price objective for the conglomerate to $250 from $210.
Shares of Honeywell have shed 7% in 2025. Obin's updated forecast is approximately 19% above the stock's Tuesday closing price.
As a catalyst, Obin pointed to Honeywell's "more defensive" business mix - compared to its high quality industrial peers - which looks especially compelling against the existing macroeconomic backdrop. He added that Honeywell's valuation also looks good at its current levels.
"Honeywell is one of the most discounted names in our coverage on a terminal growth basis," the analyst wrote. "Shares have underperformed the index in the past two years due to negative earnings revisions as the company failed to meet investor expectations. As we believe earnings have now stabilized, we believe the company can start to close some of the valuation gap vs. peers."
Shortly after the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 145 points, or 0.4%. The S&P 500 added 0.1%, and the Nasdaq Composite hovered above the flatline.
Credit card data paints a mixed picture of the U.S. consumer in April, with some hints that spending is slowing down.
JPMorgan analyst Richard Shane said in a note to clients that the total Chase Spending data for the month was up 2.3% year over year through April 29. However, that was slower than March's growth of 2.7%, though Shane noted that the slowdown appears to be in part due to the falling price of gas.
"In the most recent 30 days, there were 10 days where spending was more than 15bps above the YTD average and 15 days where spending was at least 15bps below the YTD average," the JPMorgan note said.
At Citi, analyst Paul Lejuez said that credit card data showed a decline in consumer during the three month period of February to April, which many retail companies use as their first fiscal quarter. However, spending did end April on a strong note in the Citi data, Lejuez said.
Check out some of the companies making headlines in premarket trading.