Stocks were largely unchanged in early trading on Wednesday, holding on to gains over the last two sessions ahead of a highly anticipated Federal Reserve statement and news conference.
The Standard Poor’s 500-stock index and the Dow Jones industrial average were both 0.1 percent lower, and the Nasdaq composite was flat.
The Fed will release a policy statement on Wednesday afternoon, which will be followed by a news briefing with its chairman, Ben S. Bernanke.
“The early morning action is not surprising given the fact that we’ve had two days of position jockeying ahead” of the policy statement, said Andre Bakhos, director of market analytics at Lek Securities in New York.
The advance in the markets this week so far suggested that investors expected reassurances of continued economic support from the Fed. The equity market had been roiled recently by indications that the Fed’s asset purchases would be scaled back earlier than anticipated.
Even as volatility has spiked in the wake of Mr. Bernanke’s comments to Congress on May 22, which spurred investor angst over a winding-down of so-called quantitative easing, equity markets have mostly traded sideways. The S.P. 500 is now 1 percent below its record closing high set on May 21.
“A well perceived statement, and the upside momentum will continue,” Mr. Bakhos said. “However, a statement which creates concern with Fed policy may prove to be a chance for the market to reverse its recent gains.”
Shares of Adobe Systems, the maker of Photoshop and Acrobat software, rose 6.1 percent in early trading, a day after the company reported a higher-than-expected adjusted quarterly profit and said demand rose for Creative Cloud, the subscription-based version of its flagship software package.
FedEx posted a larger-than-expected quarterly profit as its ground shipment business did well, and the company said it benefited from lower jet fuel prices. Its shares were down 0.1 percent.
Japan’s SoftBank cleared a major hurdle in its attempt to buy the wireless provider Sprint Nextel, as a rival bidder, Dish Network, declined to make a new offer after SoftBank raised its own bid last week. Sprint shares fell 3.3 percent.
European shares turned lower, but major currencies and commodities stuck within recent ranges on Wednesday as investors awaited clarity on the Federal Reserve’s next move.
Expectations for a scaling back of the Fed’s huge bond-buying program have supported the dollar, especially against emerging market currencies, though uncertainty over the effect of any policy shift has led some investors to prefer the yen.
The dollar shed 0.3 percent, to 95.06 yen, on Wednesday, although the dollar was steady against the euro at around $1.34.
Europe’s broad FTSEurofirst 300 index gave up earlier gains to dip 0.1 percent, tracking a softer session in Asia outside Japan, where mainland Chinese stocks were hit by dampened hopes for a local policy easing.
Japanese stocks bucked the softer trend in Asia, closing up 1.8 percent to reach a one-week high, as data showed Japan’s exports rose in May at their fastest annual rate in more than two years.
United States crude oil for July delivery touched a nine-month high of $99.01 a barrel, before easing to $98.41, down 3 cents.
Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/20/business/daily-stock-market-activity.html?partner=rss&emc=rss