Wall Street's main indexes took a pause from an Apple-led rally on Wednesday, with the S&P 500 holding close to its record high, ahead of the Federal Reserve's latest policy announcement.
Shares of the iPhone maker jumped 6.6% after the company's quarterly results beat Wall Street estimates, despite a record drop in iPhone revenue. The company also announced plans for a new $75 billion share buyback and bumped up its cash dividend by 5%.
The technology sector gained about 0.87%, with high-flying stocks Amazon.com Inc, Netflix Inc and Facebook Inc rising between 0.4% and 3.5%. The S&P 500 opened at a fresh record high but came off its peak as investors moved to the sidelines in the run up to the Fed's policy statement at 2:00 p.m. ET.
"It's a little hard for markets to move up or down much in one of the busiest weeks for catalysts, with 150 S&P 500 companies reporting, the Fed meeting this afternoon, so you tend to get a bit of wait-and-see," said
Art Hogan, chief market strategist at National Securities in New York.
The central bank is largely expected to keep borrowing costs unchanged and maintain a 'patient' monetary policy stance, despite President Donald Trump's call to cut rates.
ADP's National Employment Report showed private employers added 275,000 in April, well above economists' expectations and the most since last July, indicating a solid domestic labour market.
The financials sector, which tend to benefit from a rising rate environment, dropped 0.66%, with S&P banks off 0.91%.
At 12:54 p.m. ET the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 1.93 points, or 0.01%, at 26,594.84, the S&P 500 was down 2.09 points, or 0.07%, at 2,943.74 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 18.04 points, or 0.22%, at 8,113.42.
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