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Investing.com – The S&P 500 eased from record highs Wednesday, as investors opted for caution ahead of Federal Reserve’s monetary policy update.
The S&P 500 fell 0.10% and hit an earlier all-time high of 4,635.15. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.40%, or 143 points. The Nasdaq climbed 0.16%, and had earlier notched a record of 15,682.1.
The Federal Reserve is expected to keep its benchmark rate unchanged, but announce that the conditions to begin reducing its monthly bond purchases have been met.
Ahead of the decision, Treasury yields were edging higher, with the United States 10-Year yield trading at 1.56%.
Utilities, which serve as bond-proxy and come under pressure when rates rise, were on of the biggest declines on the day.
Industrials were down about 1%, paced by a decline in Deere (NYSE:DE) and Generac.
Generac (NYSE:GNRC) slumped more than 6% after Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) downgraded the energy technology solutions provider to neutral from buy, citing valuation concerns.
The bank said that while it was “difficult” to pull its buy rating on the stock following the company’s “overwhelming” growth rates, at some point valuation has to matter.
Energy, meanwhile, also weighed on upside momentum in the broader market, paced by a decline in oil prices following a bigger-than-expected increase in weekly U.S. crude stockpiles.
Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG), Halliburton (NYSE:HAL), EOG Resources Inc (NYSE:EOG) were down more than 2%.
The fall in oil prices comes just a day ahead of OPEC+ meeting due Thursday, when major oil prices are expected to stick with plans to raise production gradually by 400,000 barrels per month despite pressure to ramp-up output.
Materials racked up gains led by 12% gain in FMC (NYSE:FMC) after the agricultural science company reported than expected results following its better-than-expected third-quarter results reported Tuesday after the closing bell.
Big tech traded mixed as Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Facebook (NASDAQ:FB), and Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) were in the green, while Google-parent Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) and Amazon traded below the flatline.
In IPO news, Allbirds (NASDAQ:BIRD) made its public market debut in style as the shoe maker surged more than 60% well above its IPO price of $15 per share.
On the economic front, U.S. services activity swelled to a record last month, driven by a further reopening of the service sector.
“The surge in the index sends a positive signal about the post-Delta economy,” Pantheon Macroeconomics said in a note. “The bad news is that the supply-chain indicators – supplier delivery times, prices paid, and the order backlog – all materially worsened, with all three hitting new highs.”
