US stocks flat in cautious trade ahead of Fed decision

NEW YORK: Wall Street stocks treaded water early Tuesday as markets digested mixed earnings reports and traded cautiously ahead of a Federal Reserve decision.

Shares of Home Depot dipped following quarterly results, while CVS Health charged higher as it lifted its earnings forecast at an investor day.

About 15 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.1 percent at 47,803.94.

The broad-based S&P 500 edged up 0.1 percent to 6,849.71, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index slipped 0.1 percent to 23,518.68.

US stocks drop on higher Treasury yields, caution ahead of Fed decision

“Today is mostly about caution and risk management,” Interactive Brokers’ Steve Sosnick said ahead of Wednesday’s Fed decision.

While the central bank is widely expected to cut interest rates, Sosnick noted that futures markets do not expect multiple rate cuts at Fed meetings early in 2026.

“I think the market will be listening to whether those odds increase,” Sosnick said.

Among individual companies, Nvidia declined 0.4 percent as markets digested President Donald Trump’s announcement that of an agreement with President Xi Jinping to export some artificial intelligence chips to China.

Some news reports have raised questions about the scale of the trade.

PepsiCo was little changed after announcing a push to reduce costs and lower food prices under a deal with activist shareholders at Elliot Investment Management.