NEW YORK: Wall Street stocks treaded water early Wednesday as markets awaited a Federal Reserve decision that is expected to include the first interest rate cut since 2020.

Market watchers have been vigorously debating whether the Fed is more likely to cut interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point or a half-point.

“There very much could be a strong reaction (after the announcement), because we’re going into this (Fed) meeting with much more uncertainty about what the Fed is going to do than any meeting in years,” said LBBW’s Karl Haeling.

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About 20 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.2 percent at 41,541.85.

The broad-based S&P 500 was flat at 5,635.23, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index added 0.1 percent at 17,637.07.

Besides Wednesday’s decision, markets will also assess the Fed’s guidance about future interest rate cuts in the months ahead.