NASDAQ
Nasdaq has got a patent outlining how blockchain could be used to release information as part of a wire service. Here, people walk by the Nasdaq MarketSite in Times Square, New York City, July 30, 2018. Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Stocks drifted lower Tuesday as investors awaited word from the Federal Reserve on interest rates along with evidence the U.S.-China trade war was on the wane.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed off 19 points at 27,071 while the Nasdaq gave up 49 points to 8,276 and the S&P 500 slipped 2 points to 3,036 after setting a new closing high Monday.

Volume on the New York stock exchange totaled 2.9 billion shares with 1,559 issues advancing and 145 setting new highs, and 1,389 declining and 34 setting new lows.

Leading the most actives were Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), PG&E (PCG) and Nokia Corp. (NOK).

Google parent Alphabet (GOOG) released its earnings after market close Monday, reporting mixed results with both ad revenue and costs rising along with weak performance from some long-held investments. Alphabet reported a 20% increase in revenue over last year to $40.5 billion but profits fell 23%. Alphabet closed more than 2% lower.

Anthony Denier, CEO of Webull, said it doesn't appear Alphabet's results were affected by the economy, but rather by increased costs and fines imposed by the European Union.

"The main issue going forward is the growing scrutiny over privacy concerns from regulators both at home and in other countries. Since the after-hours drop in the stock's price hasn't given back all the gains made during the day, I think investors shouldn't be very worried about Google going forward,” Denier said.

The Federal Open Markets Committee opens two days of meetings Tuesday to decide whether to lower interest rates. Investors are expecting the federal funds rate to be trimmed 25 basis points from the current 1.75% to 2% range. The real question is what the Fed Chairman Jerome Powell will say about future action Wednesday.

“Powell’s forward guidance will be crucial in shaping the market’s outlook on the FOMC’s policy bias,” said Han Tan, market analyst for FXTM. “Markets are currently pricing in a 90% chance that the fed will deliver its third consecutive 25-basis point cut this week. Should the FOMC not deliver as per market expectations, that should cause some significant repricing and volatility.”

Steve Frazier, president of Frazier Investment Management, said it would be a mistake for the FOMC not to deliver a rate cut since it did nothing to dispel expectations ahead of the meeting.

“An interest rate cut will send the correct signal to the market as the Fed attempts to retroactively pull back a mistake and get ahead of a possible recession,” Frazier said. “The curve inversion demonstrated that the Fed got too tight too quickly given the current conditions. One more cut will help reset the curve closer to reality based on recent events.”

The U.S.-China trade war also is weighing on investors. The U.S. Trade Representative is deciding whether to extend tariff suspensions on $34 billion of Chinese goods that expire Dec. 28. Part of the deliberation is efforts to determine what products could be sourced domestically or from other countries.

However, a phase 1 deal might not be ready for U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping to sigh in Chile when they meet next month at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. Negotiators are still working on the text.

Global markets were mostly lower

In Asia, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng closed off 0.39% while Japan’s Nikkei 225 gained 0.47% and China’s Shanghai Composite lost 0.87%. Australia’s S&P/ASX added 0.07%.

London’s FTSE 100 closed off 0.53, while the German DAX was flat, up just 0.01% and the French CAC 40 added 0.11%. Stoxx Europe 600 was off 0.24%

The British pound was flat at $1.286 while the euro dipped 0.1% at $1.1113. The dollar index was off 0.07%.

Oil futures were lower. Crude oil was off 0.86% at $55.43 a barrel and Brent crude dipped 0.18% to $61.12. Gold futures lost 0.32% to $1,491.10 an ounce and silver futures gave up 0.31% to $17.82 an ounce.

The 10-year U.S. Treasury note added 1/32, sending the yield down to 1.836%. The 30-year note gained 1/32, sending its yield down to 2.33%.

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