Wednesday’s early afternoon trade: Dow, Nasdaq weighed down by Microsoft, Amgen

NEW YORK: The Dow and Nasdaq indexes fell on Wednesday as Amgen and Microsoft weighed, while investors focused on a Federal Reserve meeting for updates on monetary policy and waited for another batch of earnings from big technology firms.

The US central bank’s policy statement is expected to largely follow the mold established in December, when the Fed said it would not change monetary policy until there was “substantial further progress” in meeting its maximum employment and 2% inflation goals. The statement is due at 2 p.m. EDT.

The S&P 500 touched an all-time high earlier in the session, powered by shares of Google parent Alphabet Inc, which jumped 3.7% after reporting a record profit for the second consecutive quarter and announcing a $50 billion share buyback.

Market participants are now prepping for results of Apple Inc and Facebook Inc after markets close. Shares of Facebook rose 1.4%, while Apple dipped 0.2%.

At 12:08 p.m. ET the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 117.71 points, or 0.35%, at 33,867.22, the S&P 500 was up 1.79 points, or 0.04%, at 4,188.51 and the Nasdaq Composite was down 32.39 points, or 0.23%, at 14,057.83.

Microsoft Corp met quarterly sales expectations and beat profit estimates, but its shares fell 3.3%. Biotech Amgen Inc’s 7.5% decline weighed on the Dow after it said its first-quarter sales and profit fell due to a 7% drop in its net drug prices and a hit from the COVID-19 pandemic. Boeing Co fell 3.4% after posting a wider-than-expected quarterly loss.