US open: Stocks mixed ahead of Fed policy announcement

"The FOMC seems prepared to pause today while indicating additional tightening later this year," said Stephen Innes, managing partner at SPI Asset Management.

"Recently, the leadership has signalled a preference to pause due to uncertainty about the lagged effects of rate hikes and the potential for tighter credit to increase the risk of overtightening. And given the division in the ranks, the leadership seems to view a pause as appropriate."

At 1556 BST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was off by 0.42% at 34,069.92, but the S&P 500 was 0.26% higher to 4,380.22 and the Nasdaq Composite was adding 0.30% to 13,613.79.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year US Treasury meanwhile was slipping by four basis points to 3.786%.

The Fed was scheduled to make its policy announcement at 1900 BST.

According to the US Department of Labor, so-called final demand prices slipped at a month-on-month pace of 0.3% in May (consensus: -0.1%).

That pushed the annual rate of increase in prices from 2.3% for April to 1.2% over the latest month and from 3.2% to 2.8% at the core level.

"Slowing demand growth for goods, coupled with the dramatic turnaround in supply chains, means that gross margins cannot be sustained at their pandemic-boosted level," said Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics.

"Margin re-compression over the next year will exert intense downward pressure on core PCE inflation and the GDP deflator, as well as the PPI."

Dow Jones - Risers

Nike Inc. (NKE) $110.72 3.69%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $34.47 1.67%
Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $35.88 1.13%
Walmart Inc. (WMT) $156.74 0.92%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $336.72 0.73%
American Express Co. (AXP) $176.32 0.67%
Coca-Cola Co. (KO) $60.85 0.67%
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $184.18 0.48%
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $343.98 0.43%
Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) $145.66 0.41%

Dow Jones - Fallers

Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $456.85 -7.01%
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $108.83 -1.05%
Boeing Co. (BA) $218.26 -0.96%
3M Co. (MMM) $102.20 -0.53%
Salesforce.Com Inc. (CRM) $208.71 -0.13%
McDonald's Corp. (MCD) $288.24 -0.11%
Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (WBA) $31.94 -0.03%
Dowdupont Inc. (DWDP) $0.00 0.00%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $245.54 0.04%
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $300.36 0.09%

S&P 500 - Risers

Ipg Photonics Corp. (IPGP) $133.20 13.78%
CenturyLink Inc. (LUMN) $2.27 6.57%
Stryker Corp. (SYK) $297.56 5.62%
Universal Health Services Inc. (UHS) $147.98 4.97%
Teleflex Inc. (TFX) $250.71 4.87%
Edwards Lifesciences Corp. (EW) $91.43 4.62%
Oracle Corp. (ORCL) $121.90 4.47%
Zimmer Biomet Holdings Inc (ZBH) $142.63 4.24%
Boston Scientific Corp. (BSX) $53.33 4.23%
Nike Inc. (NKE) $110.72 3.69%

S&P 500 - Fallers

Humana Inc. (HUM) $444.24 -13.34%
Centene Corp. (CNC) $64.14 -7.67%
Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $456.85 -7.01%
Elevance Health Inc. (ELV) $436.55 -6.85%
CVS Health Corp (CVS) $68.20 -5.62%
CIGNA Corp. (CI) $260.55 -4.30%
Progressive Corp. (PGR) $127.05 -3.52%
Zions Bancorporation (ZION) $28.80 -3.26%
Altria Group Inc. (MO) $44.38 -3.03%
Mosaic Company (MOS) $35.22 -2.87%

Nasdaq 100 - Risers

Liberty Global plc Series C (LBTYK) $17.92 3.58%
Intuitive Surgical Inc. (ISRG) $326.50 3.50%
Liberty Global plc Series A (LBTYA) $16.90 3.36%
NetEase Inc. Ads (NTES) $98.31 3.03%
Baidu Inc. (BIDU) $146.62 2.84%
Netflix Inc. (NFLX) $446.73 2.52%
J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. (JBHT) $173.26 2.06%
American Airlines Group (AAL) $16.62 1.90%
Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) $417.93 1.88%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $34.47 1.67%

Nasdaq 100 - Fallers

Qurate Retail Inc. (QRTEA) $0.95 -2.01%
Applied Materials Inc. (AMAT) $139.79 -1.41%
Biogen Inc (BIIB) $300.94 -1.20%
Autodesk Inc. (ADSK) $210.99 -1.08%
Gilead Sciences Inc. (GILD) $77.61 -1.06%
QUALCOMM Inc. (QCOM) $123.20 -0.99%
Expedia Group Inc. (EXPE) $110.00 -0.87%
Henry Schein Inc. (HSIC) $75.39 -0.82%
Fastenal Co. (FAST) $55.67 -0.82%
T-Mobile Us, Inc. (TMUS) $128.84 -0.80%