Wednesday’s Stock Market Open: US Equities Drop Ahead Of Fed Policy Statement, Tech Antitrust Hearing

Update: 9:40 a.m. EDT:

U.S. stocks turned higher.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 8.66 points to 26,387.94, while the S&P 500 rose 14.42 points to 3,232.86 and the Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 87.74 points to 10,489.83.

Original story:

U.S. stocks fell on Wednesday ahead of a congressional hearing on antitrust issues at Big Tech companies as well as the Federal Reserve’s policy statement.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 205.49 points to 26,379.28, while the S&P 500 fell 20.97 points to 3,218.44 and the Nasdaq Composite Index tumbled 134.18 points to 10,402.09.

The chief executives of Amazon (AMZN), Apple (AAPL), Facebook (FB) and Google’s parent Alphabet (GOOG) will testify by video before the House Antitrust Subcommittee at noon Wednesday to discuss their alleged anti-competitive practices.

The Federal Reserve will release a statement on the economy and monetary policy at 2 p.m. ET.

On Tuesday, the central bank said it will extend its emergency lending packages through the remainder of this year.

“Markets continue to expect ultra-accommodative policy from the Fed, and the Fed is unlikely to disappoint at this meeting,” Bill Callahan, investment strategist at Schroders told CNBC. “Given that we are still squarely in the center of the pandemic, the only question for investors is just how dovish the Fed will be.”

Chris Chapman, a portfolio manager at Manulife Investment, told Bloomberg: “The Fed may not announce anything new but there is an assumption that monetary and fiscal policy will be there to bridge the gap. Plus, there is a lot of optimism about potential vaccines, given how many are in the works. The combination of those factors gives people reason to look at risk.”

Traders will also pore through earnings reports from major companies, including Boeing (BA), General Electric (GE) and General Motors (GM).

Overnight in Asia markets finished mixed, as China’s Shanghai Composite index jumped 2.06%; Japan’s Nikkei-225 dropped 1.15% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Exchange fell 0.45%.

In Europe markets traded mixed, as Britain’s FTSE-100 rose 0.25%, while France’s CAC-40 gained 0.64% and Germany’s DAX slipped 0.19%.

Crude oil futures gained 0.49% at $41.24 per barrel, Brent crude rose 0.71% at $43.92. Gold futures rose 0.43%.

The euro rose 0.35% at $1.1757 while the pound sterling climbed 0.45% at $1.2988.